Hiding from Humanity
by GrimMoody
Summary: Welcome back to the next installation of Me and Aldaris, where our adventures grow ever more inexplicable! Aldaris is still trapped on Earth, and it's all us four humans can do to keep him under wraps while we all try to figure out just how the heck he got here in the first place. This chapter: Another journal entry for the alien.
1. Welcome Back

I don't own Starcraft, of course.

-t-

I yawned, stretching out over my bed with a smile. It's kind of annoying to do that, considering that my bed is kinda small. Every time I stretch when I'm not in the exact middle of the bed means my feet hang over the side and allow cold air into my sleepytime cuccoon. But whatever, that's my one complaint. It was the first day after my graduation: associates in accounting. Huzzah! No class to go to or test to make up! Now I only have to study my korean, write a bunch of stories that I can get published, and study my textbooks so that I don't forget anything important. And get a job that doesn't entail shelving books, food service, or customer interaction in general. Bring on an office in the back and tedious paperwork! Hooray!

But today, the happiness of sleeping in. Or it would be, if my body didn't force me up at nine in the morning. That's sleeping in for some people. For the time being, I just got out of bed and put some real clothes on. Y'know, I really need to sleep in my clothes until I know for sure Aldaris' teleporter is fixed. I ran downstairs to the kitchen for to caffeinate that thought out of my brain. That works, right?

"I need more Infected Mushroom in my life." I said out loud as I loaded the coffee maker, even though I live alone. "Computer, summon the internet and make it so."

Because my computer is not from the twenty-third century, it does no such thing. So I typed up some videos and got them playing. I really need to get Infected Mushroom's cds. Even though I can listen to them on the internet, I'd much rather just own the discs. It's kind of annoying to depend on the internet to listen to what I want. That, and I want to support my favorite band.

Ah, the life. I sank into a comfortable evening of fixing cover letters, writing stories, and doing whatever random internet nonsense amused me. Not to mention that Infected Mushroom had released a sample of one of their songs on the internet, and it sounded marvelous. Yay, psytrance glee! I don't know how long I sat there, but eventually Aldaris contacted my head. I wonder how he does that. Maybe something on his ship amplifies his brainpower, or something.

"Bethany, you have been listening to that same song for over an hour." he snapped out of nowhere. "How can you not tire of it?"

"Uh...may I ask how you know?"

"I have been trying to contact you for some time. You appeared to be occupied."

"Oh, okay...so...what's up?"

"As you know, my recall unit has not performed to standard since my arrival here. Having tried as much as possible to keep it under control, I remain at a loss to a proper solution."

I chuckled. "You don't want me to help you fix it again, do you?"

It was a joke, but the animosity coming down into my brain felt exactly like one of Charlie's classic staredowns. But it passed quickly. I guess Aldaris didn't like thinking about the time I apparently nearly electricuted myself while trying to move some rotting oranges from his ship. Yeah, that was a thing. I'm still not convinced oranges are all that good at conducting electricity. Their plastic bag definitely wasn't.

"As I was saying," Aldaris near growled, shoving my thoughts in a relevant direction. "The need to remain in control of the recall unit is clearly observable. I am forced into creative techniques to maintain its neutrality, but until I am certain of the effectivity of these measures, I must have means of securing the four of you."

"Mm'kay. What do I need to do?"

"Protoss technology does not run by means a human would understand. It has a more open approach in its functionality. Thus, understanding your mind shall make it easier if it malfunctions once more. To do this, I must have something you possess. An item of great significance to you as an individual can aid the computer in this endeavor."

"Uh, how would that work? Objects don't have minds."

"I see that in all areas concerning technology, I must repeat myself to you: this is something beyond your meager understanding. Had I all of time and greater patience, perhaps I might elaborate to the extent that you might grasp the general principle. As it is, I have neither, and must ask you to simply select something dear to you, but you may for a time allow me to borrow."

"Technically, you have plenty of time. Unless you're closer than I think you are to going home."

"Are the remaining years of my life long enough to teach someone such as yourself? Were that enough, still your years would end first. That likewise assumes that you will not use this knowledge for foolhardy endeavors."

"...Charlie, I'm not as dumb as you think I am."

"Be that as it may, can you do as I ask?"

"Yeah, I think I have something that can do the trick."

"Think over it carefully. Within the week I will contact you again on this matter."

By that point, the Animatronica preview I'd been listening to ended. I clicked to the beginning of the video so that I could once more hear the beautiful art of Erez Eisen and Amit Duvdevani. So purty. Just like Eisen and his purty hair.

"...Please do not select a recording of that music as your item."

I laughed. "You're in luck, Charlie. This album isn't out yet."

"Very well, then."

Aaaand Charlie was out of there. Sheesh, why can't a bro appreciate the artistry of Infected Mushroom?

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Author's notes:

Alright, so we've reached season 2 of this thing. Because I hate people having to go back to the previous story just to keep up with what's going on, here's a quick summary of what happened last time. Fortunately, there's not too many details.

\- Judicator Aldaris has been sent to Earth of our day, and no one has answered his transmissions he's been sending out to space. There is no evidence of other Protoss here. He's continually trying to figure out how to get his ship in order and go home. He hasn't told us anything on the matter, so we don't know how close he is to reaching this goal.

\- Aldaris' presence is not known to Earth, except to me and three friends because he accidentally teleported us all on his arbiter when he first arrived and his ship was totally out of control. He's working on it, but since he's not the most mechanically minded, we humans have suffered accidental trips to various places, particularly China. He's also been working on a way to go back to the Starcraft universe, but he hasn't spoken any details about that to us, so we don't know how close he is.

\- I'm just a random nerd, trying to find a job. My previous adventures include getting temporarily trapped in China, having my house catch fire, getting accidentally caught up in Statkus' attempt to get proof of our local alien, and being rescued by Aldaris. I don't know what to do about Aldaris, and remain ready to just go with the flow as far as telling anyone goes.

\- John Statkus is from California, and he's dating a girl named Tanya. His attempt to catch Aldaris on film was thwarted, and now he's seemingly content to say nothing. Statkus is a cranky materialist, but generally means well. He later, with permission, made a video we made of Aldaris just in case something goes wrong. I am the current holder of this.

\- Toby Collins is a black guy from London (hot accent, what what), who works in a geek novelty shop. He's got no intention of ratting out Aldaris, because he thinks it's awesome to be friends with an alien. Huge Dr. Who fan, covert brony, recent discoverer of Starcraft. He's the only one of us that truly likes Starcraft 2.

\- Lee Cheonha is a North Korean who was inadvertently rescued by Aldaris the day he arrived. After I convinced Aldaris to send her to Seoul, she lives a quiet life there, still on her one year of government support. She speaks only a few words of english, and as a result we know nothing about her and can't tell her to keep things under her hat. However, she does know that Aldaris is from Starcraft, and the weirdness of that keeps her from saying anything to anyone else. Because of teleporter mishaps, she now owns a hamster named Pappa. Despite keeping to herself, she does have a friend named Choi Eunha, who is the only reason Cheonha ever leaves her apartment for non-grocery reasons.

Okay, since this was a short chapter, I'll probably update later this week. I meant to have a bigger buffer before posting, but eh, posting and reviews (hint hint) keep me motivated in writing more. I hope you enjoy, and get ready for another season of tomfoolery and whatnots.

Also, Infected Mushroom's latest album isn't out yet, but you can listen to it on youtube if you look up "Converting Vegetarians II." The track I'm obsessed with is Animatronica.


	2. Country Camping

I like the top of my bookshelf. It's where I keep all my weird doodle-ma-doos. Like my pretty, flowery cardboard iPod speakers...that I've never used once. They look pretty, though. I've also got a cylinder of Chinese tea. I think I'm out of the tea, but I still have the tin because it's pretty. Pretty like my tea box, which contains two smaller pretty tins of tea. Pretty, pretty, pretty. Not quite pretty but still cool are my Star Trek Barbie and Ken. The Ken one is kinda disturbing because the stand doesn't hold him at the waist like Barbie's. Instead he "sits" on a wide plastic stick. That can't be comfortable. It must work, though, as he hasn't fallen off the bookcase like Barbie has.

Standing on my bed, I reached across all of that to my pretty teacup, the one holding both of my Tokidoki donut girls. After plucking out the chocolate one, I plopped back down on my mattress - and immediately regretted it. It's too close to the bookcase; Lieutenant Barbie promply nose-dived off it and colided with the stack of my old accounting textbooks.

"Let that be a lesson to ya!" I snorted at the doll before leaning back and addressing the cute thing hanging from my hand. "Desiree, this is why you're my favorite."

Of course it didn't reply. "Desiree" was nothing more than a cloth-made girl with donut ears and a donut inner-tube around her waist, plus a pink string to hang her by. I think she's supposed to go on cell phones, but out here in the West they don't design phones to have hanging decorations. Kinda lame, really.

I yawned deeply, eyes shut and everything. It was a yawn that Kasuga Ayumu would be proud of. Relaxed and refreshed, I opened my eyes.

You'd think I'd be used to it by now. In the three seconds it took for me to have the perfect yawn ever, the whole world changed around me. Again. Instead of sitting on my covers, I was butt-first in dust, from my bare feet to my tush. Because this place was some sort of out-of-season farmland, the dirt was all soft, the perfect kind to get stuck on your clothing for a week. At least I was wearing jeans.

"Hello there. Nice to see you again."

Toby Collins reached out a hand to me, and I accepted his help up. He was there, and so were John and Cheonha. Fortunately everyone was dressed and seemingly awake. The time zone differences in our countries being what they were, that's a lucky coincidence.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"I dunno, some kind of farmland." John said. "It's not like any place I've ever been, so unless one of you three have some idea, we're out of luck. This would happen right when Charlie was saying we should make ourselves easier to be found."

"Oi, Bethany, does it smell like China?" Toby joked.

I sniffed. "No. Smells like...dirt, I guess."

Of course it would. It was a massive field, harvested, and all that remained in it were the few scraps of dried stems and roots left behind. It looked like a cotton field, actually. On one side of the field was a spread of trees, and on the other a two-lane road with another field on the other side. I took in all this in the two seconds it took for me to notice a problem. A large problem. About ten feet of problem, to be exact.

Aldaris turned to us at the sound of our voices, and we all stared at each other like idiots for a second. I pointed down the road.

"You, uh, may want to get out of sight..."

Aldaris hurried away from the road, heading for something I hadn't seen yet. Behind me was a barn, an old, grey, abandoned-looking thing in the middle of the field. It probably wasn't really abandoned. I've been out in the country before, and sometimes shacks just get abandoned because they're full of old crap a guy won't get rid of but also won't do anything with. That's why they invented that show American Pickers.

So while our Protoss hid behind the barn, me and Toby looked down the sides of the road. Cheonha, not knowing what else to do, I guess, followed along behind us. The road didn't look like it got much traffic, and nobody was on it at the moment.

"We might still be in North Carolina. Or somewhere in the south." I said. "This doesn't look all that unfamiliar to me. Out in the country it gets pretty empty."

"That's a good thing." Toby's eyes wandered back over to the barn. "I don't think Charlie's going anywhere."

Toby was right. When we got back to the side of the barn, Aldaris was sitting against the far side of it, still fiddling with a jewel-thing on his upper arm. Judging by his frustration, the jewel-thing wasn't working. I think it's what he uses to get on the ship when nobody's on it. But Aldaris didn't vanish in a cloud of blue smoke. He let loose a silent wave of frustration before addressing the four of us.

"When the recall unit malfunctions," he said, all gruff-like. "It requires time to recharge. With the five of us recalled, I estimate it shall be a full day until it will return to full power."

"Really? After only teleporting five people?" Toby asked. "The arbiters in Starcraft could transport a lot more than that."

"Yes, because _Starcraft_ is the measure by which reality is determined." Aldaris snarked as he pulled a part of his cloak over the jewel thing on his shoulder. Didn't like us wee ones looking at it, I suppose. "Trust that if I would leave this place, were I able."

"So we just...wait here?" John said. "In the middle of nowhere?"

"Unless you have a better suggestion."

"Yay, the conspirators are goin' campin'! Awesome!" I started giggling uncontrollably. I just couldn't help it. The situation was just too nuts. Here we are in the countryside, four near-strangers and an alien, and we have to hide from everyone. Just like a movie. Oh great, Aldaris was staring at me like I'm crazy again. It loses the effect because he does it so much. But I couldn't stop laughing. "Sorry, Charlie, it's just too funny."

All of a sudden, my humor cooled. Like a level inside of my brain slowly going down. It took me a second to realize that the local psychic was doing...something to my brain. It felt exactly like being shushed, and Aldaris, one eye twitching, lifted a finger in front of his face to the shush position. With the psychic help, I settled down. ...It's still funny, though.

"Well, looks like we're going to have to hide you." Toby said, happy and oblivious to what was happening to my head. "We can check and see if this barn is empty."

"I doubt it, somehow." I said, calm enough to talk without laughing. "I'd bet it's full of rusty machinery."

"Well, whatever you find in there, have fun." Statkus said, starting off for the road. "I'm going to walk along and see if I can find a gas station or something to get us some water and food."

"No, you are not. You are going to stay here." Aldaris narrowed his eyes, and John froze. "You are also going to give me your cell phone."

John, blushing, turned around and started back, sheepishly rubbing his neck. Was he really going to try to rat Charlie out, or did he just not think of that? I couldn't tell. The irritation on his face flattened his mouth to a line, and a glance hit me before went off to hand over his cell phone.

"Now the rest of you."

I patted my pockets, feeling only my debit card. "I don't have my phone on me."

"Here's mine, I guess." Toby said. "I wasn't going to call anyone on it. Though if it rings, I should pick it up. I was expecting a call from my mother."

"I was hoping for a call from a job." I complained. "I really hope nobody chooses today to say I'm being hired. In any case, _I'll_ go look for a gas station. Good thing I got my debit card."

Cheonha suddenly appeared beside me, stepping hastily away from the others. "I go too."

"Oh hey, you're learning english? Cool. _Ne, kach'i kayo_." I looked down at Cheonha's shoes, then suddenly remembered that I too have a very similar problem. "Uh, that's not going to work. One of you guys needs to switch shoes with Cheonha, and I'll be taking the other's. Who's got smaller feet?"

"Wait, we're about to investigate this barn, and you want one of us to do it in plastic flower sandals?" John asked.

"Bare feet for both of you, actually, unless you've got Korean sized feet. If this place is anything like the countryside back home, then it's going to be a while before we find a place that isn't somebody's house. Better she walk that way in too-large sneakers than flower sandals. C'mon y'all, chop chop. Daylight's burnin'."

"I'm a size eleven." Toby turned to Statkus. "You?"

John sighed. "Size nine. Bethany, how do you say 'come here' in korean?"

"I know 'come here.'" Cheonha retorted, despite staying by my side. "Not stupid."

"'Shoe' _arahyo_?" I asked, pointing to Statkus' feet.

Cheonha nodded.

" _B'ahllie_ then, girl, sheesh. Oh, and before I forget, I may as well hand this over." I dug in my pocket as Cheonha went over to the guys. I, however, was headed 'Tossward. "Charlie, you were talking about us giving you an item that meant something to us, and this is what I pick. It's handy because it can't break or make a mess."

Holding her by her string, I handed Desiree the donut girl to the Protoss. Aldaris stared at the thing, completely baffled. Oh yeah, Aldaris has probably never seen a donut before. I don't figure Raynor ever had those on a military vessel.

"What _is_ this?"

"It's one of those hanging phone decoration things they have in the Far East. She's a Tokidoki donut girl, supposed to be called Chocotina, or something like that, but I prefer to call her Desiree. See, I really wanted this one specifically - chocolate, you know - but the Tokidoki figures come in these boxes that don't tell you which one it is until you open it. However, God then pointed out to me one specific box, and it turned out to be her. So she represents for that God cares about my desires, even the silly, pointless ones. Oh, and it's also the same night I got some free spanish tapes for my mom and found my coworker's lost debit card."

Aldaris stared at me with an expression he'd never used before. How could his incredulity possibly be described? Heck, I think I broke his brain for a second. I tried really, really hard not to giggle again. Charlie can only handle so much of my nonsense. He snapped out of it though, and for a second he looked like he would say something to me. But then he just gave up and faced everyone else.

"Has anyone else chosen their items?" he asked, voice tinged with dread.

"I haven't." Statkus said. "Sorry."

"I have." Toby piped up. "But I left it at home. Don't worry, it's just an old book. Nothing odd."

Aldaris turned to Cheonha, and for a moment, Aldaris' eyes flashed. I think they always do that when he talks. Cheonha didn't reply. She just took one of her sandals and started picking at one of the plastic flowers on top. The glue holding it down came off, and she handed it to Aldaris. He didn't ask any questions.

"Can you wear a man's size eleven?" Toby asked me, as this was going on. "UK sizes are a half size smaller than in the States."

"S'cool, I think." I said. "I normally where a nine in guys, or last time I tried them on, anyway. So that's nine and a half for you guys, only one and a half difference. That's not a big deal."

As I put on Toby's shoes, I watched Cheonha take her now damaged slip-ons and place them at the side of the barn. Suddenly I remembered where I'd seen them before. They were the ones she'd gotten at the Bang Bang store, the very first day she'd gone to Seoul. Strange I remember that. Strange also that they seemed to mean so much to her. They're just some white plastic shoes with a sort of checkered-texture body and a pink flower on each top. Kinda cheap, actually. Maybe they mean so much because they're her first shoes in a free country. It ain't like commies are known for pretty shoes.

"Hey Cheonha," I tied a final bow on my borrowed left shoe. "Ready?"

She either knew the word or got it by osmosis, and nodded. " _Ne, kaja_."

"Alright." I got back to my feet. "See y'all later."

"Bye. Try not to get killed by a redneck." Statkus said.

"The murderous tendencies of the stereotypical redneck are primarily Yankee fantasies." I retorted as me and Cheonha walked off. "Or calculated responses to keep said Yankees on their toes. See you guys later!"

And away we went, as I ran a checklist in my head of everything four humans and a lost 'Toss might need to survive a night in the woods. It took me and Choenha around two hours to find a shop and get back to the guys. The empty countryside alongside the road wasn't much besides trees and fields, and most of the time that meant somebody's house. We did see a cute horse, too. It kinda spooked Cheonha for a second, but she chilled out after I fed the horse some of the longer grasses. Aaand then my arm accidentally touched the electric fence, zapping both me and the poor critter. It didn't come near me after that.

Anyways, we did run into a little shop. Very little. It was an old shack off a dirt road, and judging from the old, single pump out front, it was apparently a gas station. Nobody used the pump while we were there, so it was left to our imaginations if the thing actually worked.

The inside was alright, though. Just some ramshackle iron shelves with various goods, primarily car related or unhealthy. Cheonha looked nervously at all the stuff there, but she did find some pickles (vinegar is good for you). I grabbed a pack of water bottles, beef jerky, and crackers. There was this cooler full of sandwiches, and while gas station sandwiches are the bane of the earth, I risked it and grabbed us each one. Also, gum. I didn't see any toothbrushes, so it would have to do. Thankfully I rushed back in before we left and got an electric lantern before I forgot.

And then all the way back to the old barn, in the waning sunlight. Cheonha's time zone issues were starting to hit her, and on the way back she wandered in a tired daze. Poor thing, she spent an hour wandering like that. At one point she had to splash some of the water on her face to keep going. Nearly spooked her half to death when we didn't see anyone at the side of the barn.

"Fear not, ladies," said Toby as he gallantly exited the woods. "Right this way. We couldn't get the barn door open, so we've camped out in a clearing back there. Unless we run into any ambitious hunters, we should be left alone."

"'Kay." I answered, directing my sleepy comrade in Toby's direction. "Though I don't think it's hunting season. I'm more worried about us freezing to death. There weren't any jackets or whatever at the store."

"We'll huddle like hamsters. All nice and tight in a bunch."

I snorted so hard I almost lost grip on Cheonha. "Dude, don't say funny stuff like that. I don't want to get near the telepath thinking about him huddled up, much less with us."

Toby stopped in his tracks, hands over his mouth to shove his laugher back in. "I was only thinking of us humans! Great, now I'm thinking about it too."

"Come on," I teased, kicking him in the ankle. "Cheonha's about to drop, so think about something else."

"Oh, something else like gerbils?"

The more I tried to hide my laughter, the more the tears leaked out of my eyes. I wiped them away and kicked Toby again. "Stop it, you're gonna get us in trouble!"

" _Shikkuro_..." Cheonha muttered and slapped me on the shoulder. " _Kaja_."

" _Ne, ne_." I nodded at Toby and handed him a bag of the stuff. "Lead on, brave leader."

"As you wish!"

It wasn't far to the little clearing. I realized that probably we were in telepathy range of Aldaris. I'll just...I'll just hope he doesn't know about the hamster thing. Maybe his range is a lot more limited than I think it is. I also tried to stop thinking about how he can sit so royally with those janky 'Toss legs. ...See? This is why I shouldn't be anywhere near a psychic.

So anyway, Charlie was sitting there like he's the Emperor of China, while Statkus hung out under a tree, with what I presume was his suitcase and Toby's backpack. I'm pretty sure the backpack wasn't Statkus'. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would have a Kingdom Hearts keychain.

"I have returned." I turned to the 'Toss. "Nobody was told anything. No need to check my mind, right?"

Aldaris said nothing. I don't think he did anything to my mind, but he didn't seem concerned. He only glanced once in my direction and nodded, so I just went to the guys. Cheonha, however, instantly woke up. She immediately rushed over to didn't say anything out loud, but judging from her expression, she was thinking at him. Huh, that must be a weird conversation, considering the language barrier.

Whatever. None of my business, I suppose. I went over to the guys and began to unpack, starting with the lantern. It served as our "campfire," but I suppose actually having a real campfire would have been better. What gas station doesn't have matches? Oh well, maybe playing with fire isn't the best thing to do when you're stranded in the middle of nowhere.

"What'd you get?" Statkus said, digging in. "Oh...you got the sandwiches..."

"Yeah. They're turkey, and with the cold water, it's fine. Eat the pickles if you don't like it."

The food went pretty quickly. Cheonha didn't eat much. After she got done talking with Aldaris (poor guy looked kinda confused for most of their conversation), she came back and sat near me. Charlie must have been feeling nice, because he let her wear his extra cloak. Since it was big enough, Cheonha shared it with me. She was asleep on my shoulder in less than a minute. Me and the guys talked a bit after that. Well, the human guys. Despite the fact the sun was very nearly down and it was getting colder, Aldaris went by himself a bit away. Not far, just a bit outside our circle. Maybe he was tired or something.

"What've you got in there, Toby?" Statkus pointed at his backpack.

"My new board game. Betrayal at House on the Hill. I was playing it with some friends of mine before our little camp-out."

"Are you kidding me? I love that game so much." I grinned. "Did you win?"

"Not me specifically. My explosive collar went off before I could kill the traitor." Toby said. "I did do four points of damage to him first, so I like to think I died a hero."

"Wait, what? What kind of game is this?" Statkus asked.

"It's where you're exploring this haunted castle, and after a bit, a haunt happens. Whatever the haunt is depends on what item activated it and in which room it happened. Someone then becomes a traitor, and tries to do something evil by means of horror movie cliches." Toby explained. "Things like werewolves, killer vines, bats, mad scientists, that sort of thing. And since the game is played with room tiles instead of a board, it will never be played the same way twice."

"The game's marvelous." I said, thinking back to my own misadventures with it. "I had an epic game this one time. My friend was the traitor, and she summoned a witch who could turn us to frogs. To make it worse, she had the thief's gloves, so she stole what we needed to beat her, and then the witch got us all in three turns. What made it even better was that right after she summoned the witch, she got caught in spiderwebs and was stuck there the rest of the game."

"I like that." Toby grinned. "She got what she deserved."

"This game is starting to sound like fun." Statkus said. "Why don't we give it a try? It's not like we've got anything else to do at the moment. We might even get Charlie here to join us."

"No, thank you." Aldaris said, clearly not outside telepathy range. "I am not interested."

"I don't want to get it out, anyway." Toby yawned and leaned against his tree. "There's lots of little pieces, and I don't want it getting lost out here in the woods. Especially now that it's dark. So Charlie, do you know about how long it will be until we can leave?"

Aldaris pulled back part of his cloak and touched the stone at his shoulder again. "By morning should suffice. For most of us, in any case."

"I vote Statkus gets left behind."

"Hey!"

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Author's Notes:

\- Sorry this is so late. I meant for it to be up way sooner. But, y'know, life. That, and a Mirrormask review I'm doing for my blog. For some reason I'm struggling with it, when I really shouldn't be. It's not that complicated of a movie.

\- This is still a journal fic. The Tokidoki thing is true, and so are both stories about Betrayal on House at the Hill. Buy it, it's a great game.

\- Protoss, in a crowd, are capable of talking to just one person without the others hearing. Granted, other telepaths can try to hear what the speaker is saying, but most times it's considered rude to actually do so. But since we're not telepaths, we can't hear when Cheonha and Aldaris are having a thought conversation. Cheonha, however, would be completely audible to any true psychic.

\- I've actually come up with a system in my head about the Protoss caste system and what each can do. While all three castes (and DTs) have specific skills that their caste specializes in, as their members get older, they tend to look for non-caste specializations. The High Templar are well practiced in Judicator specialities, blending them with Templar techniques and "overclocking" them to create physical substance from psychic form (think psi storm). Other Templar cross train in the psi-tech of the Khalai caste. While cross training in other castes tends to depend more on individual preferences, Templar choice is tied tightly to career path.

Judicator focus almost purely on the workings on the mind. They are, ironically enough, the closest in psychic study type to the Dark Templar, simply with different means. But, absent of dark archons, the Judicator is closer to overpowering other minds. They know most intimately the workings of the brain, and are best at interrogations, memory recollection, and chemical manipulation. For example, in this chapter Aldaris calmed me down. This is a fairly simple technique done by provoking calming hormones in my brain. It's a tricky task, but Aldaris is well experienced in it. Any form of Judicator manipulation is chemical based. They can't actually control someone's mind like a dark archon, but only emotions and impulses. Therapists are most often Judicator. While there are fighting Judicator and ones not unlike High Templar, the caste tends to prefer Khalai cross-specialization.

Khalai have many specialists in non-psychic arenas (like architecture). Their core psychic study tends to be the development of psycho-mechanical works, resulting in psychic controlled and powered technology. Khalai cross-training is usually in Judicator methods, which the Khalai alter for the purpose of animal husbandry. Khalai are very good with animals, studying both their minds and bodies for design purposes. As a result, Aiur tech tends to operate similarly to nervous systems (note that no animal cruelty is involved). Because High Templar abilities are a blend of Templar/Judicator study, it is almost entirely absent in the Khalai caste. They do have, however, a high number of powerful medical professionals.

The Dark Templar have little specialization, due to the unstructured nature of their society. While many DT choose to become proficient in certain things, their educational system is on the whole less disciplined. Likewise, their technology (other than long-distance spacefaring crafts) is less developed than it is on Aiur. The Dark Templar make it up through their studies of the void, and the essence that is space, with no matter and no end. Dark Templar techniques enable them to live longer periods of time without light, and on less. They also have very efficient space-mapping systems and charts. Their activities tend to be less about themselves and more about the study of the universe as a whole.

However, because they are a whole society and not a caste, they aren't readily comparible to the others. Except for certain Neraz masters, High Templar equivalents who appear in Starcraft under the simple title of "Dark Templar." Note that in the K Sector, the only "Dark Templar" who are actually referred to this way are in fact the Neraz masters with this particular form of training (which is indeed more similar to Templar/Judicator techniques than some Khalani would like - each side developed their version of archons on their own, without the other's help). There are other Neraz masters whose training is in other areas. In fact, not all Nerazim can even turn invisible, and not all of those who can can do so for extended periods of time. Only the masters of Dark Templar power can do so indefinitely.

Note also that all this is my own personal canon, not anything Blizzard related. I just like details.


	3. Cheonha's Hope

Well, I don't know how they did it, but Toby and Statkus are actually asleep out here in woods. I left the lantern on, but it's still creepy enough out here. If this place is anything like home, then there's foxes and possums out here, and they've teeth enough. Cheonha's still out, and so I'm just sitting there in the orangey glow of the lantern, alone.

Despite my reluctance, I did doze for a little while. Maybe that was when Aldaris disappeared. I really hope he didn't just wait until his teleporter was partially recharged and then leave us all here. I wouldn't put it past the guy. But eh, why be presumptuous? Cheonha was still leaning on me, so I gently laid her down before wandering off to explore. That meant shedding the cloak I was sharing with her, so yay for being cold.

 _Charlie?_ I thought out at him. It's weird to talk aloud when the air's thick with darkness. _You there?_

"Yes. What is it?"

Aldaris wasn't far at all. He was only a little bit out of range of the lantern, and the glow of his eyes in the night was kinda obvious, now that I knew what direction to look in.

 _What are you doing out there?_

"I was trying to meditate."

 _Oops. Sorry, don't let me bother you._

"Never mind. I have already been interrupted."

Okay, that italics is getting annoying. Yes, it's technically correct to put thoughts in italics when you're writing, but it's just handier to write out our conversation normally, even though I spent much of it think-talking rather than talking.

Anyway, at that point I got curious, and I started to walk up to him. That's when I noticed the deer. It twitched when it saw me, but Aldaris said some protoss words to it, and it calmed down. It walked right up to Charlie, allowing him to touch its big ears. Yep, that happened. Judicator Aldaris, sitting in near complete darkness, petting a wild deer. I swear, this guy's part dinosaur, part Disney princess.

"Dominance over animalian life is a form of psychic technique." Aldaris explained. "The Earth creatures I have seen thus far are unable to resist pacification. Though this creature seems harmless. What is it called?"

"That's a deer. And it is harmless, unless you're driving." I thought for a moment. "Huh, this must be what you did to Kensley's dog."

With a gesture, Aldaris seemed to wave off the deer. It didn't immediately respond. It licked his hand for a second, then looked at me. Aldaris pointed off into the distance again, and the deer wandered off about its woodland business. D'aww.

"You are not asleep?"

I shook my head. "No. Wrong time zone. Back home it would be afternoon. Huh, I'm kinda surprised Statkus is asleep. His time zone is a little earlier than mine. Maybe he had a late night or something. So are you feeling alright? It's pretty dark out here, and I know you don't always get a chance to be in the light."

Aldaris' eyes narrowed. That's the thing about talking to telepaths. You don't always have to hear words; their feelings can go back and forth just as easily. His feelings of irritation surrounded him like a force field.

"My condition is well under control, and also none of your concern." Aldaris replied. Suddenly his mood instantly changed, and with it, the subject. "Bethany, please answer my question honestly. It will save us both the trouble of investigating your mind. After last week's incident, I must know how you have explained your injuries."

I blushed, thankful it was too dark for him to see (or are Protoss eyes better than ours because they glow?). He was talking about the time he saved me from a wandering gang. No, I haven't written that down yet. I'm not ready. It was just a week ago, alright? Fortunately, I had figured out the answer to his question long before.

"Heh," I chuckled. "For your sake, friend, I couldn't report it. But whenever anybody asked, I told the truth: that I was rescued by an old, bald, former military guy."

That got a chuckle out of Charlie. "In truth, my position is not military in nature. It is the folly of any nation to allow military might overbearance. Civilian leadership keeps warrior aggression in its proper channels."

"Oh, my bad then." I shrugged. "It's not a lie if I didn't know."

"You should have guessed. However, you must not expect I shall always serve as your guardian, ready to forsake my concealment at any moment for your sake." Aldaris' eyes went past me, over toward the others. "Even now Cheonha proves troublesome in what she expects of me. It may have perhaps have proven ideal had I returned her to her place of origin, the day I appeared here. I did not consider it at the time, distracted as I was with other matters."

"No." I growled. "It's much less trouble that you sent her to Seoul. If you had sent her back to North Korea, not only would I have immediately ratted you out, but I would find some way to hurt you."

Taken aback, Aldaris stared at me. This is the first time he's ever pissed me off, so he must have been surprised. But he only stumbled over his words a second, no longer than that, and lit his eyes a surly red. "And what do you presume you could have done against me?"

"Not much, probably, but that wouldn't have stopped me from trying." The tone I took was unnecessarily violent, so I forced myself to calm down with a smile. "Then again, if you'dve thought that way about Cheonha, you probably would have dealt with me one way or another. Not to mention that your teleporter was still messed up, so there's that."

"...If I return Cheonha now, you still would resort to violence?"

"Let me explain. If you somehow find it necessary to kill Cheonha I won't get mad." I considered sitting down for a moment. Nah, too dirty, too dark. "Even if you kill all of us, I won't care, provided you did so because it somehow protects Protoss interests. But if you send Cheonha back to North Korea, I won't forgive you. I expect better from someone of your position."

"I see. So you forget your duty to Earth for my sake, and remember it only as it concerns Cheonha?"

"Uh...well, technically all Koreans, but..." I shut my mouth, stunned. Holy crap, Charlie had a good point. Here I was going on about protecting one girl, and yet I'm the one letting a potentially hostile extraterrestrial hang out on our planet. Hypocrite, much?

"You then know why Korea is divided? Cheonha was unable to effectively communicate this."

Huh? What was Cheonha talking to Aldaris about that for? "Not in perfect detail, but yes."

"Then explain it, if you would."

"It's kind of a long story."

"Are we pressed for time?"

"Uh, well, okay. The primary reason for North Korea's downfall is communism, though today it's sort of developed away from that to a plain tyranny. It's the only communist nation where a tyrant was succeeded by his son, and later grandson."

"What is communism?"

"Communism is an idea that can be traced to French philosophy, but it wasn't really developed until Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels came along." I found a place where a bunch of tree roots rose above the dirt, and sat there. "It's also called Marxism, primarily because of his contribution, though some people like to say that communism is a perversion of what Marx wanted. That's kind of a fair argument, given that he probably didn't intend all the deaths communism ended up causing, and was in fact dead before communism became a thing. It's more complicated than brevity makes it sound, but at its foundation it's the idea that workers should be in charge of a nation, and that everyone should work according to their ability, and be provided for according to their needs."

"That system contradicts itself. It cannot give power to workers, as those that control a nation will surely be those who determine what 'need' is, and also those that distribute. Such a system would quickly degenerate into rewarding loyalists."

I silently applauded Aldaris. "I'm proud of you. It took you two seconds to figure out what some people don't get their whole lifetimes. Communism also severs the link between work and reward, making it a stereotype of communist countries where workers fulfill their quotas and then slack off, provided they aren't in prison camps."

"Then how did North Korea become communist?"

I stopped there a minute. Facts swirled about in my head. There are so many people responsible for what happened to Korea. Stalin, Kim Il Sung, Franklin Roosevelt...where was I to begin in all of that? It's a convoluted story.

"Well, the first communist nation was the Russia, where I told you Solzhenitsyn was from. It became the Soviet Union almost one hundred years ago, at which point it immediately began gathering territories and allies. Josef Stalin became its leader shortly after its inception, and it was him who picked Mao Tse Tung to rule what would become communist China, and Kim Il Sung to rule Korea. Korea at that point, the whole penninsula, was occupied by Japan. Japan, however, was one of the losers of World War II, and when the war ended, the Allied powers - the nations that won the war - wanted to give Korea its independence again."

"And the Soviet Union was part of the Allied powers?"

I cringed. "Sort of. In the beginning, they signed a non-aggression pack with the Axis powers - the losers - and remained out of the war in exchange for territory in eastern Europe that Germany believed it had the right to grant. Then Germany lost its head and attacked them. I don't know why, but the important thing is that the Soviet Union was able to manipulate fighting against Axis powers as an excuse to keep its European territories, as well as gain concessions in the far east. It participated in the war against Japan for a mere two weeks, after we had already used nuclear power to convince Japan that surrender was a better option."

"What does this have to do with Korea?"

"Everything. The president of my country at that time, Franklin Roosevelt, was a huge fool. He was willing to give away other peoples' nations for the sake of peace, though to be fair, the eastern European territories at that point were already filled with Soviet soldiers because of Russian involvement in defeating Germany. However, the Soviets hadn't done much at all in the Far East, and Roosevelt promised them a chunk of China for the promise of helping with Japan."

"You are again straying from the point."

"Oh, sorry. So, um, Korea had been under Japan's sway for 35 years at that point, and they no longer had a king. The intent was for the Allied powers to administrate Korea until they could form a government of their own. Roosevelt died in office, but I guess Harry Truman, the next president, decided to keep Roosevelt's promises. I don't know the details here, but the Soviet Union was allowed to administrate the north, and the other allies took the south. Again, everyone wanted it to be one nation again, but each side expected it to be under their own principles, and not the other's."

"I take it compromise was never reached."

"No. How could there be a compromise? The world started waking up at that point, as it became clear then what the Soviet Union really intended. They really, honestly believed they could make the entire world communist. They didn't, but it wasn't for lack of trying. They even initiated the Korean war, in the effort to take the whole penninsula for themselves. Though they'll claim that us Amerians started it."

Aldaris narrowed his eyes. "Did you?"

"No! Just the opposite. We apparently at that time wanted as little as possible to do with Korea. I don't fully understand our position, but we initiated a defensive perimeter in the Far East, one that conspicuously did not include Korea, for whatever reason. This lack of concern helped provoke North Korean communists into thinking we'd let them have Korea. We didn't, thankfully, but the whole thing's a dang comedy of errors, or it would be, if it weren't so serious.

"The Soviet Union of course wanted the north to attack the south, but to prevent being entangled themselves in a war, they only sent material support to their choice of dictator, Kim Il Sung. Later on they also encouraged the communist Chinese to join in as well, though their tyrant apparently also wanted in, for his own reasons. However, the hostilities stopped very shortly after Stalin's sudden death, indicating he was the driving force behind it. Kim Il Sung, for his part, wanted to rule more than just a wasteland. Because us westerners didn't want to prolong the fighting, things ended much as they began, with the border in the exact same place as it was before the war, only now it's a heavily armed border where basically no one ever crosses. Technically speaking, the war itself never ended, and things have been tense between the two halves ever since, despite the lack of fighting."

"I do not understand. Why did your government go through the expense of a war if they cared nothing for Korea?"

"If you find out, let me know." I sighed. "Heck, we were always scatterbrained about South Korea for years after that, half supporting, half hoping they'd be strong enough on their own. President Jimmy Carter was especially bad. He wanted to remove American troops from Korea entirely, even though if he did, that would only be the same kind of mistake Truman made with the defense perimeter. Thankfully, Carter never did, and relations normalized after President Reagan came into office. Not that Reagan was focused much on Korea. His efforts did contribute significantly to the fall of the Soviet Union, though. It collapsed in 1991."

"May I remind you, I am not well familiar with human chronology."

"Oh, um, so...okay, Starcraft came out in 1998. So, seven years after the Soviet Union fell." I held up seven fingers. And then I told Aldaris how old I was at that point, but I'm not going to write it here. A lady does not tell her age. Not to people who understand human chronology, anyway.

"You mentioned this Jimmy Carter before." Aldaris said. "As I recall, you mentioned that he kept your father from going into space."

"Yeah. Well, not specifically Dad. It was budget cuts, same as always. Dad says that NASA isn't good at playing politics, so they can never make people support them. I'm not mad about that, though. If Dad went to space, I might not exist. Existing is pretty nice." I yawned. "So why bring all this up? What's your interest in Korea?"

"Cheonha wishes for me to save her mother."

"Oh? Are you going to?"

Aldaris eyed me. "You declare no threats this time?"

"Of course not. Cheonha became your problem when she teleported onto your ship. You're not responsible for anything else about North Korea."

"It is good you realize that. It would be a waste to have to deal with you so soon after saving your life."

That's our Charlie. Always a creeper. I giggled.

"In any case, I am undecided on the matter." Aldaris continued. "I must determine if the risk of her mother's sudden presense is greater than the risk of Cheonha actions if her wish is denied."

"Did she say she will tell people about you?"

"No, though she is fragile by her nature. I cannot rely on her goodwill in all circumstances." Aldaris rubbed his eyes. "And, should I grant this, what stops her from desiring another favor? That is the trouble with you four, that you may at any time insist on the use of my superior technology, or else expose me to your governments in retaliation. Nor can you expect my benevolence at all times. Do not grow accustomed to it."

"At the risk of sounding ungrateful, you didn't have to save me. Technically speaking." I grinned. "Face it, Charlie, you're a nice person."

"I am a principled person, not one kind-hearted enough to risk my technology every time you make foolish decisions." he retorted.

There goes asking him to give me a ride to visit out of state family. "Well, I wasn't planning on blackmailing you, or anything like that. But you're right. Out of all of us, Cheonha is the wild card. Not least because we can't communicate effectively with her."

"Do you believe she would behave irrationally if I refused her request?"

"I don't know. I only got her email address tonight, so I haven't been talking to her much before now. And don't ask me to try and convince her to leave you alone about her mother. Not only do I not know how to do that, but if she were willing to give up on her mom, she wouldn't have bothered asking you about it. Sorry, Charlie, you're going to have to figure this one out on your own."

"Be assured that I had no intention of seeking your assistance. Do not deny it. In your heart you wish I would save her mother, despite the risk."

I nodded. "It's what I would do. But I'm not going to tell you to do anything. We here on Earth have to figure out our own problems. We can't depend on a randomly appearing ET with advanced technology all the time."

"That is the correct response." Aldaris words came out almost like a threat. "Do remember it, when you are tempted otherwise."

We talked for a little while after that, mostly about North Korea. Nobody really knows that much about what goes on there, except for the people that escaped it. Aldaris wasn't all that interested, though. I think talking about Earth made him iffy. If it had nothing to do with helping him deal with Cheonha, he didn't care. I asked him a little about Aiur, but he didn't say anything about it. He just started saying stuff about needing to meditate, and practice blocking out my "loud thoughts." As if I wouldn't know he was just trying to not tell me anything. What's the harm if I know something about Aiur? He already told me a Protoss legend.

I didn't fall asleep after that, but since I couldn't talk to Aldaris, that meant returning to the others, sitting next to Cheonha, and doing nothing at all. After briefly considering which Infected Mushroom song I could think about to annoy Aldaris the most, I matured up and tried to think of nothing. Judging from the mild aggravation drifting from his direction, it didn't work out so well.

To make it worse, when I finally was about to doze off or something, Aldaris was ready to send us back. And when I did get home, it was already nearly dark. So not only did I lose my only day off before a long weekend of work, I got to spend it mostly devoid of light. Oh well, here's to spending all night on the internet!

Seriously, Charlie needs to get his ship fixed already.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

\- Whenever Aldaris says "meditate", he doesn't mean emptying one's thoughts or studying something, like a human would say. He's just using that word to refer to psychic exercises. Since humans aren't psychic, we don't have words for things normal to a Protoss' abilities. "Meditation" is just one of those words they use to describe psychic exercise generically. It also serves somewhat as a distraction to humans, so that we won't be able to garner any information on the topic if they talk about it.

\- One of the limitations of this story is that I can't explain anything about Protoss that Aldaris won't say to us or record in his journal. So for the record, I'm going to elaborate here on what the deal is with his sickness.

Aldaris has a rare genetic condition called inparsynthesis. This means he's less able than other Protoss to absorb sunlight. It's not a big deal, particularly on sunny planets like Aiur or Earth. It just means he has to be outside more often, and at times sleep with a light on if he feels weird. However, on a darker planet like Shakuras, as well as an extended period on a spaceship with only artificial light, affected Protoss suffer from pains and sudden lethargy. In extreme cases, the afflicted person can die, but that's highly unusual. This condition forces Aldaris to leave his ship and stay on Earth periodically, because artificial light is less nourishing, especially after long periods of time on it alone.

Inparsynthesis runs primarily in Judicator families, though it has been seen in Khalai and Templar families as well. It can have a negative affect on the careers of the few Templar that have it. It limits their ability to endure Templar training and duties, so the Templar that have it often try to hide it or end up accepting positions that involve less space travel. It's difficult to predict who will get it, even in Judicator families, as it routinely skips one to five generations between affected persons.

Dark Templar almost never have inparsynthesis. However, those that settled on Shakuras initially suffered from similar symptoms over time due to the immense cloud cover of the planet - the condition is, after all, exactly like light starvation. Nerazim therapies developed quickly, and as a result, most Dark Templar who do have the condition don't realize it - they've already developed through ordinary means the ability make the most of the sunlight they get, only displaying symptoms in extreme cases. These therapies are less effective for the Khalani exiles, but are growing in popularity. Aldaris, however, is as likely to attempt any of these therapies as he is to praise humanity for being enlightened. Khalani therapies, though less effective on a daily basis, are superior in dealing with sudden and overpowering symptoms. He thinks he'll be fine without DT stuff.

Aldaris doesn't speak much of his condition even to other Protoss, and in his youth often slept at his desk or with an open book nearby, so that anyone who passed by thought he fell asleep before turning the light off. Now that he's older, he doesn't have an ego about it anymore. During the brief period he trusted the Dark Templar, he worked with both Nerazim and Khalani to sort out the sunlight problems the exiles faced in getting accustomed to a twilight world.


	4. Captain's Log

Log entry #538839

The previous solution for the recall unit is a failure. Not only did it once again remove the humans from their proper places, it also took me with it. I was forced to supervise them an entire night in the middle of the woods. It is as though this entire series of events was designed for utmost absurdity, from the moment I appeared in this world. Has something in this life of mine angered a troublesome god of mischief?

The evening itself proved harmless. Despite John's mistrust, he was little trouble. Likewise, Toby remained happy merely to be in my presence. I know not what sort of world this must be if I, or any other extrinsic being, can bring such comfort to a disenfranchised child. Unless his languor requires such extremes.

Cheonha, least of the four and now greatest of my concerns, with great desperation plead her cause to me: she wished for her mother, who remained behind in North Korea. Is this the past the Morian Koreans try so desperately to remember? Or is it that this Earth is like Starcraft to us, with some things entirely alike and others disparate to our familiar reality?

Bethany's help, stultiloquy though it was, elucidated the matter better than Cheonha's poor english and weary viscera. Of the four, Bethany is the greatest fool. She is a repository of information, and though nothing she says has any obvious application against humanity at this time, she willingly offers their history, fearing neither its use against her kind nor shame at its censurable nature. Should I persuade her to shut her mouth? Certainly not. It is welcome in my study of these creatures. I also, for my own amusement, wish to see the extent of time it takes for the child to learn the wisdom of silence. Nothing indicates that this event shall come quickly.

In the name of convenience, I have directly recorded the memory into pellucite. Studying this has allowed me to write it in our words, which I have done elsewhere. I know not how to translate her saying "comedy of errors", but if any a term is accurate concerning these matters, it is certainly that. Bethany claims on the one hand that this President Reagan of her nation brought down the Soviet Union, but upon doing so, why did the United States' intentions not turn again to the east? Had Reagan no concern for Korea? I must remember to ask her about the presidency. If her leaders are constantly re-elected, there is limit to the good they can accomplish.

Would that these foolish creatures had a Conclave of their own. But they cannot live beyond childhood, these humans. Perhaps a Conclave is out of their reach, as they cannot attain true wisdom in so short a time. It is cruelty that their gods make such fragile beings, to die out before their flower. If they cannot live longer, is it not preferable that they lack the knowledge of their mortality, as animals? Yet I am mortal, and cannot question the immortal in what they deem right.

In any case, Bethany states that North Korea is a nation led by a common tyrant. The sting of communism has passed, leaving only the poison of greed. It is apparently a land rife with starvation and a "personality cult" where a citizen is not allowed to think of their tyrant in anything but worshipful terms. Indeed, this Kim Jong Eun is claimed to be divine, though Bethany claims his father has more fanciful myths to his name. One is that he is so skilled at a game called golf that he refused to play it, and embarrass anyone else. I know not the nature of golf. It did not seem relevant at the time, but I may ask if curiosity insists.

The short of it is that North Korea is a place people wish to escape. How irresponsible it would be to involve myself in such a task! Cheonha insisted that she only wished for her mother, that she should not die alone in that place. Is this where it starts? Because I have helped Bethany, my aid is required for Cheonha's problems? Enough of that. I shall ponder these circumstances in due time.

Bethany's previous advice proved correct, though not for the reasons she stated. She claimed John's intentions to "rat" on me would be sated if I proved that I am more reasonable than he believes. This was not the case. I restored John's memories on her advice, and made the discovery that my threats were incorrectly aimed. Bethany, illusioned by her childish notions and my own actions for her sake, does not understand the extent to which I will defend this vessel and the secrets it holds. She did not, however, mention her rescue to John (she is a timid, fragile creature, reluctant to speak of such things). Thus, John failed to learn that I am reasonable.

Indeed the opposite occurred. My threats cowed him quickly. To his credit, John seems willing to die if he must, yet he crumbled at the mere mention of hurting the girls. And, due to his restored memories, he understood that this was not my preferred solution. I am certain that he finally knows that his best course of action is to remain silent. Of the four, he is perhaps the most intelligent.

Now I perceive the true natures of three of them, and only Cheonha now constitutes any kind of threat to my position. Toby I know the least, but he complicates nothing. He is content to befriend an "alien," and is indeed jealous of Bethany, the one whom I have spoken to the most. That was merely out of need. I do not seek the company of these humans. I cannot decide if speaking to them is at all preferable to my solitude aboard the _Juniadros_.

My longing for home has only grown in strength. I fight against this longing, knowing that returning to where I belong will not be the end of my work. I will say this of my exile, that it has allowed me the time to put my memories to paper. I shall not forget Aiur, and by the gods's grace, the descendents of our people will not also forget its former glory. I have outlined the Five Towers of Antioch, as well as the temple of Udens and its sanctuary. My memories of Aiur are not yet darkened, and to this day I see it when I close my eyes. On such things I meditate, to preserve what I have.

As to finding the means by which to return home, I am no closer than I was thirty days ago. The anomaly that delivered me has grown dark. Fortunately, the data collected earlier is somewhat understandible, and the computer still holds a vast array of astronomic research. I still remain confident that I will find a way to return to those I left behind.

The greatest comfort is energy. Despite the lapses in the recall unit, main power storage is unaffected. The solar energy collectors are fully operational, and by waiting for it to recharge, I avoid tapping into main power. I must reserve as much as possible of this fuel for the return home, assuming I can discover the means. My patience is tried to the last, but it cannot be helped. Would that I were not alone in exile. I must pray for deliverance, that the gods might rescue me by the same mysterious means that brought me to this world.

\\\\\\\\\\\

Author's notes:

\- I'm working on this story! I swear! Don't worry, next month is NaNoWriMo, so I won't be slacking then.

\- "viscera" is another word that Protoss use differently. In english it refers to one's innards, particularly the abdomen, and the word "visceral" means instinctively or from one's intuition rather than intellect. As a result of the latter word, Protoss use "viscera" to mean one's emotional center/personality and its ability to communicate without words (that is, psychically transfer emotional context). Despite most humans not being psychic, we have emotional centers, so we have a viscera in the Protoss sense. We merely lack the organs capable of sending out our visceral communications.

Aldaris is saying Cheonha has a weak viscera because she was tired, and because as a non-psychic her viscera isn't disciplined enough for complex communication. Humans with good imaginations can use good mental imagery in communication and self-disciplined humans can hide their thoughts to a degree, but generally humans have to work deliberately at effective visceral power.

\- Pellucite is the kind of crystal Protoss use to record memories (it in itself is a classification of khaydarin). This is an advanced psychic technique, and few people of any kind have mastered it. Note that human psychics are not capable of this, as the training for it takes longer than a human lifetime to learn - it's not so much one mental exercise so much as many mental abilities rolled into one task. It also only works with recent memories. Note that this story's canon isn't going to follow official canon 100%. Expect more on that later.


	5. A 'Toss and his Geek

Aldaris didn't look through the monitor. He would never get close enough to Earth to see any of it to good detail; he'd done that only once, to find a sunny, private spot for his brief trips to the surface. He wouldn't risk it again, not without knowing what exactly the humans were capable of. Their satellites cluttered the planet, making only brief trips down possible without blocking some signal or another.

The only way to reach down was through the minds of his four...well, they weren't really comrades, and barely associates. It was simpler to just call them "the four." In any case, humans, particularly ones of Earth, couldn't detect psychic waves; the four had already told him they knew of no psychics. Aldaris linked his mind into the comm system, weaving its neural pattern into his own. From there, he accessed the data on the computer pertaining to one of the four: Toby Collins. In an instant, distant sensation appeared in his mind. Toby wasn't anywhere unusual, so it wasn't difficult to find him.

The computer patched it in. Toby's mental state was calm, focused, and not occupied with some sensitive matter. Aldaris went slightly further in, and visual details appeared. It was a room, posters of presumably popular people lined the walls. A bookcase lined in plastic figures occupied the wall near the window, and surrounded the computer at his desk. Aldaris completely uninterested, didn't look further. It was easy enough to see that Toby was just in his room, reading a book. It was as good a time as any to interrupt.

"Toby, have you prepared an item of significance?"

"Charlie! Great to hear from you again. Yes, I've got it right here." Toby held his book in front of his eyes, guessing (correctly) that Aldaris was looking through them. "I assume you'll want it, then?"

"Yes."

Without another word, Aldaris de-synched his mind and recalled Toby into the lounge. As Aldaris did a final check and shut down the recall unit, he briefly considered moving some of the teleporter controls to the lounge so that he wouldn't have to leave a human unsupervised. He quickly dismissed the thought. It wasn't a long walk from the control room to the lounge, and moving the technology was almost too complex for his limited technical ability. Not to mention that he didn't want to put anything important where a human might get their hands on it. It was easy enough to just keep the lounge door locked, anyway.

Only a minute or two passed before Aldaris opened the lounge door, finding Toby sitting at the table, still perusing his book. A couple more pieces of human media of some sort were on the table, and Aldaris inwardly cringe. Not only was Toby making himself at home on a ship not his own, the skin-tight outfits of the figures on the covers didn't make their content look wholesome. He glanced up at the sound of the door, greeting the 'Toss with a bright grin.

"I'm glad to see you." Toby said. "Finally we get to talk! It's like you spend all your time with Bethany and Statkus. I'm feeling a bit neglected here, Charlie."

Aldaris rolled his eyes. "All four of you would be 'neglected', had I any my proper say in the matter. A book is simply too small an item to recall alone."

"But we can talk now, can't we? We have to wait for the recall unit to recharge."

"That is not the case. You are one person, and the recall unit did not discharge involuntarily. I can return you at any time."

"That hurts me, Charlie, it really does." Toby laughed and tapped his chest. "It hurts me right here."

"I am _certain_ of it." Aldaris hoped he wouldn't have to roll his eyes too many more times. The strain might give him a headache, and he already felt iffy. "In any case, what is your chosen item?"

"This one."

Toby handed over the book he was reading. It was old, the pages a yellowish-brown from time and frayed from use. None of the words on the cover stood out; it was a white cover, with the title on the top and an illustration inset below, where a human in strange clothing rode a long-haired animal underneath the face of another animal floating in the sky. The background was the night sky and...trees? Those pillars with colorful swirls were supposed to be trees, maybe? With that sort of cover, Aldaris wasn't sure he wanted to read english any time soon.

"What is this?"

"It's The Horse and his Boy." Toby answered. "My favorite in all the Chronicles of Narnia. It's about a boy and a war horse trying to get back to the nation where they belong, and the adventures they have along the way. I've always loved it. The series was a gift from my favorite grandma, and I've had it with me for years. That's one of the rarer covers, too."

"Yes...it is clear why." Aldaris sat at another chair at the table and flipped through a few of the yellowed pages. Though there were nice illustrations at points, it didn't hold his interest for long. He tossed it back on the table. He pointed to the rest of Toby's things. "What are those?"

"These? These are comics." Toby held them out for Aldaris to see, but the Protoss didn't reach for them. "I collect them. They're basically fanciful tales of superheroes and such. Each story comes out monthly, usually. It can be quite expensive to get them all, but it's an unfortunate addiction of mine."

"Expensive? That?" Aldaris scornfully gazed at the comics. "A few pitiful illustrations and whatever meager story can fit inside? Surely that is illegal."

"Uh, why would it be?

"Why would it not? A more clever scam I cannot imagine." Aldaris rolled his eyes, and immediately regretted it. He'd been staring at computer screens all day, and putting up with human silliness wasn't making things better. "To pay repeatedly for a flimsy set of illustrations and whatever meager story can fit inside is tantamount to throwing money to the ground."

"What? No, it's not. At least, if people want to buy it, it's not a scam."

Aldaris rubbed his eyes, realizing he was going to need sunlight soon. Would he have enough power left after sending Toby away to go down to the surface for a time without tapping into the power reserves?

"So Charlie," Toby said. "I was thinking about it, and you'd never told us how you got here in the first place."

"No, I did not."

A pause. Toby stared, waiting patiently for Aldaris to fill it with his story. Aldaris calmly stared back, waiting for Toby to get the hint. But Toby's patience blanked his thoughts, and the Protoss wasn't sure his insistence was tenacity or pure cluelessness. Toby waited a few seconds longer, then gestured at his host.

"Well?" Toby asked. "Why don't you tell me?"

"Because I do not wish to."

Toby wrinkled his brow, tilting his head in complete confusion. "I don't understand."

"Very well, then. Since the four of you so stubbornly insist on wild miscomprehension of the blatant truth, I shall endeavor to explain it as bluntly as possible." Aldaris focused totally on the human. "I am not your ally, nor your friend. I do not need your assistance. Neither you nor your government are capable of providing any true aid in my returning home or resolving any issue there. Nor if you were would I accept such assistance. The Protoss and humanity are not allies."

Toby visibly deflated. The calm on his face dissolved into plain disappointment. His face quickly recovered from the sudden burst of emotion, and Aldaris had to wonder if Toby knew that he could hear the human's inner commentary - _get it together, get it together._ Toby obeyed his thoughts, and answered the Protoss in an entirely stable voice.

"Well, I don't really see it that way..." Toby said slowly, and his voice picked up confidence as he went on. "I mean, you're here all alone, and hey, this is a good a chance as any for you to see how humans really are. Y'know, that we're not horrible."

Aldaris kept his face stone still. It helped that he couldn't decide if he were incredibly insulted or wanted to burst out laughing.

"Besides, this is a unique opportunity here." Toby continued. "You're in the past! And we can help you. Since we have Starcraft here, we can change the past. We'll have to think about it very hard, because we'll want to change things, but we also can't change the fact that you went back in time. Which means we can't save Aiur -"

Aldaris was definitely offended now, but he maintained control. Toby, after all, was a mere child in Protoss terms, and he knew nothing. Not merely about the K Sector, but also of suffering in general. Besides, provoking Toby into talking more didn't sound like a good idea.

"I fail to see how discussing these things with you is a productive activity."

"Charlie," Toby frowned. "This concerns us humans too. If there is some kind of portal or phenomenon out there that leads from here to the K Sector, we need to know about it. I mean, having some kind of interdimensional portal between our worlds is going to have a profound affect on both, don't you think?"

"That is precisely why I do not wish to discuss it." Aldaris replies. "I cannot allow humanity to gain access to the Koprulu Sector in this manner. The consequences would be disastrous. Should such a portal exist, it clearly does not operate on a continual basis, otherwise you would know of the Protoss before my arrival."

"I dunno, they did base Starcraft on something. Even still, it would be better of us to know something, wouldn't it? Think about the UED. The whole reason why Kerrigan got control of the K Sector is because the UED didn't know what they were doing."

"That is incorrect, even assuming Starcraft can be relied upon. The UED stumbled in with a little information, imagining in their arrogance that they could settle all the issues within the Sector. I do not wish for a repeat of this." Aldaris emphasized this point with a long, dark stare.

"Come on, Charlie. You appeared right in front of Earth when you got here. Sooner or later we're going to find out where this portal is. Which would you rather have happen - that we fall into it accidentally, or that we know what we're doing and don't cause any incidents?"

"The former, clearly." Aldaris said. "Caught unawares, you can have no plans against us. That indeed still assumis that a constant portal does indeed exist."

Toby snapped his fingers. "You're right! Of course there isn't a portal! This ship is an arbiter! Or something like it, because you can teleport us. That means that however you got here, something messed up your ship and made you accidentally teleport yourself here." Toby nodded to himself as serious as a detective in a murder case. "It all makes sense now."

Taken aback, Aldaris couldn't answer. Had he really been so dense as to let Toby figure this out? Aldaris quickly regained control of his emotions and their subsequent affects on his face. It wasn't really so hard for the humans to figure out that his recall unit had something to do with things, now that he thought about it.

"Aha!" Toby exclaimed with a pointed finger in the Protoss' direction. "I got it right! That proves it!"

"Congratulations." Aldaris retorted. "You are capable of basic logic."

"Thank you." Toby replied with equal sarcasm. "Anyway, that's good news Having a portal to a place where Zerg could get at it is always a bad idea. I don't suppose you know what it is that caused the malfunction in the first place, huh?"

Aldaris folded his arms, commencing staring contest number 2.

"Okay, be that way." Toby stretched. "It's a bit spooky that Protoss can teleport between dimensions like that, but I suppose it means you have a better idea of how to get back."

Aldaris wasn't listening. He'd been starting to feel strange since the conversation started. A fog was slowly building in his mind, and his innards felt strained. He needed sunlight, and soon. Toby was blathering on about something or other, so Aldaris took a moment to run quick calculations in his head. Yes, he had enough power to transport himself to the Kensley house after sending Toby home. He would have to wait a few more minutes for the return trip, however.

 _Perhaps if I divert the power from navigation..._

"Charlie, are you even listening?"

"Of course not. Nothing you are saying is important."

Toby snorted in exhasperation. "I'm talking about how we can change time when you get back. Since we know a little bit of things that happen after got here. I had some ideas in that regard."

Aldaris rubbed a circle into his temple. "Do you think I have not considered these things? I dwell alone in a small box in the sky, and I have no time at all to think?"

"Oh...uh," Toby blushed. "Sorry. I suppose I would go stir crazy too."

"Nevermind. You should return to the planet before anyone notices you are missing. Get your things."

Aldaris picked up the book and led Toby out of the room. Toby clearly sensed Aldaris' growing irritation, and the psychic couldn't help but notice that Toby blamed himself. That wasn't quite the case. While certainly Toby's conversation had put him in a bad mood, Aldaris' own thoughts were the real culprit; ordinarily he liked to show a little more patience in front of the humans, to be a proper example. Aldaris let himself slide this time. How could he be expected to put up with these irritating creatures with his head so out of sorts?

He recalled Toby down to the planet again, then glanced once more on the strange cover of The Horse and His Boy. He wondered if it was as good as Toby said.

 _More than likely it is not. Can they in so few years demonstrate proper literary technique?_

Aldaris didn't really care to read it anyway. His limited use of written english prevented him from understanding it, and the translator on his ship didn't scan text or translate english context properly. With a sigh, Aldaris opened a small drawer underneath a side console and tucked the book inside.

It was a perfectly ordinary storage space, with no contraptions or cables of any sort. The technique of keeping precious items on an arbiter didn't work because those items had any ability to affect a computer; it worked because those items were now missing, and the mind of the individual would think back to it, making them easier to find. Of the three objects Aldaris had gathered from the humans, he considered Cheonha's the most appropriate of the three. If she wore her shoes often, then the plastic flower she'd ripped off the toe of one would remind her of its absence, and her mind would be easier to pinpoint, particularly in a crowd. Toby's book and Bethany's doll were less useful, but if necessary, Aldaris could send a broad signal of memories of these, and anyone who thought of his ship could only be the two of them.

The drawer didn't just contain the human items, though, and Aldaris perused the unearthly objects meant for others. His ship had brought refugees from Aiur to Shakuras, and many of the items he couldn't attach to a name. There were only a few things now left in the drawer, either forgotten in the evacuation or left for Judicator use - a necklace once given to a bride, a ceramic bengalaas, part of a torn note, and a number of pictures.

There was supposed to be another item, too. Aldaris remembered Acastus, a Shelak Judicator and long scholar. He'd survived Aiur's fall, and Aldaris could only hope he'd survived the rebellion on Shakuras - assuming Starcraft was right about that.

 _Acastus had a book here._ Aldaris remembered. _Yes,_ The Paths of Ascension _, by Kallikator._

Suddenly, the Protoss felt a need to find this book. He'd read it before, some years ago, and didn't entirely remember what happened in it. It was supposed to be a semi-historical fantasy of an ancient sage, and how he'd fallen into a life of struggle and pain, to find himself slowly earning freedom from it over the years of his adventures. It was favorite of Acastus', and Aldaris longed deeply for something that would remind him of home.

He dug through the drawer, suddenly desperate to find it. He knew it was on the ship, or had been before he came to Earth. Had Acastus taken it back? Had someone else taken it? Aldaris simply couldn't remember seeing it since the clouds of Shakuras had wrapped him up and sent him off. He dug further into the drawer, shoving aside the pictures and Toby's book as he felt to the back of the drawer. Nothing but bare boards, unfortunately.

Out of the corner of his eye, Aldaris spotted a sudden movement; he'd pushed the other things too far, and knocked something out of the drawer. In annoyed haste, he shoved everything else back in and shut the drawer so he could see what fell. It was Desiree, the stuffed donut girl. The stupid thing - he noticed it just in time to see that he'd accidentally kicked it under the console.

 _Makhmenadas..._

Well, it couldn't be helped. Bethany probably wanted that back at some point, and for his part, Aldaris couldn't wait to get the useless thing back in the hands of its owner. He crouched down and reached under the console, grasping blindly at whatever would meet his fingers. The plush toy was easy to feel, and...what was that behind it? It was something more solid. Obliged to reach down further, Aldaris got down on the floor and put his hand around the doll and the whatever it was. He also reminded himself that he should probably clean the floor at some point.

All te while hoping that the dusty floor wouldn't stain his sleeve, Aldaris hauled out both of the truant objects. The doll was as dusty as his arm, but he didn't notice it. The other item? A book. _The Paths of Ascension._ Wincing, Aldaris turned his attention to the doll. And it was with annoyance that he remembered what Bethany had said.

 _ **So she represents that God cares about my desires, even the silly, pointless ones.**_

 _Nafash ishtani._ Aldaris didn't waste a moment shoving Desiree back in the drawer. If he didn't get off this ship soon, his headache was going to get worse. He didn't have time to think about Bethany's God, and any god that girl believed in wasn't someone he wanted anything to do with.

Aldaris instantly put it out of his mind and tucked Acastus' book under his arm. The ship's controls beckoned him, and he activated the recall unit. Before he left, he checked the reserve power storage once more - it was very nearly full. So long as he only used solar power for the recall unit, it would stay that way.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Author's notes:

\- Yes, I am a naughty author. I need to update more. Trust me, I will. Yes...I've said that before, but I mean it this time. No really, I have a bit of a buffer. Also, LotV came out, and I will be referencing that. Thankfully... _things_ are going to happen to make sure Aldaris is less focused on the game and more focused on those things, so I'll have time to assess the game and reference it properly. Exciting times!


	6. Ideals

Statkus didn't like this. It made him feel strange. If Aldaris had asked him to do something involving computers, or higher math, or even writing, Statkus could have done it - the fact that the Protoss would have no need for any of those things aside. Instead, Aldaris had asked for something that Statkus didn't realize was so entirely difficult. He knew from email that Toby had already given his meaningful item to the 'Toss, so that left Statkus as the only one who hadn't decided on his.

 _What does Aldaris need an important item from us for, anyway? I don't understand how that helps a machine locate us when his recall unit goes haywire._

But Statkus had seen the items from the other people. Aldaris had no need for a tiny donut doll and a plastic flower from a shoe. Clearly it wasn't some way of taking advantage of the humans' ignorance of Protoss ways. Which is why he figured it should be way easier to find something than this.

Statkus' apartment usually had all the stunning appearance of a magazine. At the moment, it didn't. Not after he'd pulled everything off of his bookcase in the hopes making a mess of his living room might reveal something he cared about. But alas, it was all computer books, a few assorted novels, and some science books. He liked his Christopher Hitchens book, but that didn't mean anything to him personally. And besides, he might want to read it again. Nothing else on the shelf meant much to him either - he'd been meaning to get rid of some of his novels, anyway. There wasn't even anything important in the pages.

The young man went through all the rooms in his house, wandering around for something meaningful. Except not the kitchen. The things in there, from his brand new knifes and and his Modera dining set. were expensive and impersonal. The living room he'd already tried, and due to its normally magazine quality it contained few personal items. The guest room? Nearly always empty, the bed made and closet containing old golf clubs he had no other place for. Statkus only chuckled to himself about getting Aldaris anything from the bathroom.

And then there was his room. The only place in his meticulous home that allowed for miscellaneous personal whatnots. Even that was mostly clean, only marred by the laundry on his bed, still waiting to be folded. Statkus pulled the storage bins from the bedroom closet. One was a wash, containing only his winter clothes.

"Why do I even have that?" he muttered, pushing the box back on the shelf above his hanging rack. "It's almost never that cold in California."

The other bin proved more fruitful. It was his old memory bin, full of old photos, medical records, and tax papers from near a decade ago. Statkus shuffled through it, pulling out some old ticket stubs from his and Tanya's trip to a concert a year or so ago. She was the one who put them there, with the hope of putting it into a scrapbook. Or so she claimed; it had been a year.

"Tanya..." he whispered. "Maybe..."

Maybe not. Pictures of her were in the bin too, from their trips and earliest dates. Had it really been three years? Statkus found a picture of the two of them, from only last summer. They were arm in arm, smiling into his camera after a long day of surfing. Statkus clutched the picture and lay back on his bed, shoving aside enough laundry to do so. It was a nice picture with great memories,and she was super hot in that neon pink bikini. John waited for feelings to come; surely a picture of his girlfriend would do the trick. This was his woman, part of his life...

And nothing. No matter how much he tried, Statkus couldn't make sentiment out of air. Sure, Tanya was exciting and fun to mess around with, but love? Statkus didn't know. And the more he thought about it, the more he did know: she was just a good time. Admitting it brought a sour pain to his gut. It wasn't really her fault. Love always seemed like some sort of nonsensical emotion in the movies. Like being swept away because someone was so beautiful, or whatever. Statkus clearly fell on the "whatever" side. Nothing magical stirred in his heart when he saw her. Certainly in his pants, but nowhere else.

Statkus sighed and dropped the picture back into the bin. He then rubbed his hands up and down his face, wondering if the relationship was right. Dating a girl he didn't love wasn't technically wrong, was it? Then again, that was hardly Tanya's fault. Statkus couldn't remember a time when he felt any intense emotion, not past high school. Life was life, and this was the "girlfriend" stage of life. Next up was the "marriage" stage, and if Tanya stuck around, he'd always figured he'd marry her. Why not? She was as good as the next girl. Perhaps even a little better, because she wasn't a big spender.

The pain in his stomach grew. Now that he laid out all these considerations on the forefront of his mind, it sounded pretty messed up. Or was it? How would he know? After all, Tanya was a willing participant in the relationship. She had never mentioned love either. Maybe that was alright, then; their relationship was just different from other people's. It worked for them, it just didn't result in any mystical, electric emotions. It was just life, gears going forward into a dull, inevitable future.

Aldaris had asked the impossible. Not a thing in that apartment had any sentimental value. Ultimately, it was all just stuff, and could all be replaced. Even Tanya could be replaced, if Statkus really wanted to. Putting feelings into lifeless items just didn't make sense.

 _I guess that means the next time I get randomly teleported to China, I have to find a way out on my own._ With a groan, Statkus sat up. _If I don't think of something, Charlie will think it's on purpose._

Statkus only briefly considered knocking his bin onto the floor for some stray item. It wasn't going to work, he knew. But what would? Statkus thought hard. If he'd been more emotional in high school, what did he get all emotional about? And then he realized that that wasn't quite true. He did have a strong emotion lately: hate. Hate that out of all the characters of fiction, it was Aldaris who had to pop into reality. Why him? He was a judgemental, relentless, religious grump. Why couldn't it have been one of Ayn Rand's characters? Or, if it had to have been Starcraft, why not Zeratul? Just thinking about it irritated Statkus.

 _Starcraft_. Statkus' eyes widened, and he sat up even straighter in his bed. _How could I have forgotten that?_

He certainly remembered now. It all came back in a flood: seeing the game on a friend's computer, the excitement of playing the single player campaign for the first time, taking over the school's computer lab with his friends, late nights of Terran victories...he had been a good player then, hadn't he? Maybe not competition level, but up there.

Statkus was up and searching about for about three seconds before realizing he didn't have Starcraft anymore. It too was a thing, and replaceable. Not to mention that his old friends had drifted away from the game over time. He, too, had grown up. All the same, it was an emotion, a memory of things past, and something Statkus knew he could hold onto.

It took several impassioned minutes of searching before Statkus found any blank paper. In the end he had to dig out a couple of sheets from the printer. Along with his memories of school came his doodling habits, and with a spare black pen retrieved from its hiding spot under the bed, he started sketching. It wasn't going to be pretty, but it was going to be Starcraft.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

I like my job alright. It's pretty nice being a book shelver at a used bookstore. There's a little more slack about the shelves, unlike a direct retail store. The disadvantage is that we can't order in new books that we don't have in stock. We just have what people sell to us.

The more intangible benefits of the job are what appeal to me more, though. Because I don't have a car, the bus gets me here a bit early, so I can spend about an hour or so reading or studying korean in the back before I have to clock in. Right now I'm in the middle of my...third? Fourth? Er, some number of reading _The Gulag Archipelago_. Y'know, the book that is a massive testimonial about life in Soviet prison camps.

 **"Here is a rewarding and inexhaustible direction for your thoughts: Reconsider all your previous life. Remember everything you did that was bad and shameful and take thought-can't you possibly correct it now? Yes, you have been imprisoned for nothing. You have nothing to repent of before the state and its laws. But...before your own conscience? But...in relation to other individuals?"**

I freaking love this book. Is it wrong to be obsessed with books where people are prisoners of war, or arrested for false reasons? Well, some people are obsessed with true crime novels, and I have a sordid genre preference of my own. If nobody's willing to look at the ugly parts of life, we will never know the truth about life and humanity. I always roll my eyes when people call us enlightened. The only difference between present people and barbarians of the past is technology - moral evolution does not exist. Actually, I don't believe in regular evolution either, but it's a fallacy to lump the two together, as though people are getting more moral over time. Pretty sure there's no scientific or historical evidence for that. History says quite the contrary, and science probably says nothing at all. Science isn't about moral judgements anyway.

Anyway, back to the book. I'm on the section where Solzhenitsyn is talking about the influence of prison, and how it failed to corrupt everyone, and even helped some people morally ascend. It's a complicated concept, which is pretty well summed up by the way he ends a chapter:

 **"'** _ **Bless you, prison**_ **, for having been in my life!'**

 **(And from beyond the grave come replies: It is very well for you to say that-when you came out of it alive!)"**

I stopped reading a second. Was someone standing near me? I looked around, but only saw the usual - the four grey, cushioned chairs, all but mine empty. No one stood before the fridge, microwave, or sink ahead of me. The rest of the room, taken up by all the extra candies and merchandising stands we had to store back here, was all silent. I peeked behind the wall of soda shelves to see if anyone was grabbing stuff back there. Nope. Well, whatever. I went back to reading.

 **"Take some Aunt Dusya Chmil, a round-faced, calm and quite illiterate old woman. The convy guards called out to her: 'Chmil! What is your article?'**

 **And she gently, good naturedly replied: 'Why are you asking, my boy? It's all written down there. I can't remember them all.' (She had a bouquet of sections under Article 58.)**

 **'Your term!'**

 **Aunt Dusya sighed. She wasn't giving such contradictory answers in order to annoy the convoy. In her own simplehearted way she pondered this question: Her term? Did they really think it was given to human beings to know their terms?**

 **'What term!...Till God forgives my sings-till then I'll be serving time.'**

 **'You are a silly, you! A silly!' the convoy guards laughed. 'Fifteen years you've got, and you'll serve them all, and maybe some more besides.'**

 **But after two and a half years of her term had passed, even though she had sent no petitions-all of a sudden a piece of paper came: release!"**

Something still seemed off. I stopped reading and put out my mental feelers. Yeah, there was something going on that I didn't notice before.

"Charlie?" Again, I was thinking in my head, but I don't want to use italics. Those are annoying to put up with for too long. "What are you doing?"

"Please excuse me. You were reading, and I was attempting to glean what I could of the written language. Though I am far less impressed with this Solzhenitsyn. He speaks of things he could not possibly understand."

That was a pretty weird thing for Aldaris to say. It's not like he knows anything about prison camps. Eh, maybe he thinks Solzhenitsyn was too "young" or something like that. Not like I wanted to start an argument about it. "Oh. Warn me next time before you're about to do that."

"I shall. May I continue?"

"Sure, but uh," I pulled my phone out of my purse. "I've got to go to work in like ten minutes."

"So I had assumed."

Suddenly it clicked in my head, and I chuckled. "You're bored, aren't you? Do you want me to find you some books to read?"

"If you would. I must at some point learn to read your language, and I do not know the optimal way to begin."

"Okay. So were you planning on reading for yourself, or reading with me like you were just doing a minute ago?"

"Both if possible."

"Mm'kay. So how good are you at reading? Do you know how to pronounce all the letters?"

"My reading is poor. I have not mastered the subtleties of the pronunciation."

"That's no good." I thought about some of the books for younger readers. There goes getting him to read Watership Down. Generally the Intermediate Reader stuff was all silliness, but I figured that there might be a nonfiction book on space in there. Huh, what about those worksheet books in Kid's Ed? "It's going to be hard to find something for you that's easy enough and not insulting to your intelligence. I'll see what I can do, though. Ooh, I could get you The Nutcracker. There's bound to be a kid's version of that."

"...What is a nutcracker?"

I imagined a the fancy wooden soldier in my head. "It's a little statue-like thing what cracks nuts. We don't use them anymore. There's fancy metal ones now. The story itself is an adorable tale of a girl who gets a magical nutcracker from her godfather at Christmas and then goes on a fanciful adventure because of it, one that's either a dream or real depending on what version is being told."

"How thrilling." Aldaris retorted. "Is there not something more adult available?"

"Not anything I won't have to read to you, I don't think. Do you prefer fiction or nonfiction?"

"What is the difference?"

"Stuff that really happened, or stuff that didn't?"

Aldaris stopped, and I could tell he was struggling to decide one way or the other. Heh, he must be really bored to want to read human literature - I can't imagine he's actually interested in the stuff for fun. On the other hand, if he wants me to read him history...I don't know, is that a bad thing? Should I be reading to him about human history? I don't think it'll hurt anything, but you never know. I guess I shouldn't pick anything on nuclear history, then.

"You realize this now?" Aldaris said. "Very good. I had expected this revelation to occur to you much later."

I facepalmed and sighed. "Fiction it is, then. Hm, I guess I could get Lord of the Rings. Yeah, that's a good trilogy. It's about-"

"I know what it is about. The books have been known to the Protoss for many years, and translated many times."

"Aw, that's so sweet!" I exclaimed (in my head, remember - I'm just not using italics). "Tolkien was always afraid no one would read his word, and now people from a far away planet are reading it? Aw, that's so great!"

"Do not acquire those books. They are highly overrated." Aldaris said. "Though others stated its testiment to the potential of human literature, I could not bring myself to finish the first."

"Oh? Lemme guess. You stopped at the Tom Bombadil part, didn't you?"

"If my stopping place is so easily guessed, surely the lack of quality in the story is evident."

"Yeah, I always skip that part when I read it. But it's only that part." I chuckled. "After that it gets better. A lot better, actually. Best part of it is, I won't even have to spend your money on it. I've got them at the house. Don't worry, I know what parts to skip."

"Hey Bethy, what are you giggling about?"

A coworker broke me out of my trance, and I looked up. It was Terry, a goateed goofy guy in a Star Wars T-shirt. Terry's hilarious. During an overnight shift he created an elaborate fantasy of how another one of our coworkers was part of an elaborate conspiratory group, and was going to emotionlessly kill us all to the sound of Smashmouth playing on the intercom. ...Okay, fine, it was hilarious to people staying up all night and moving shelves.

"Oh, I'm just thinking weird stuff again." I answered.

"Like what?" Terry said as he reached into the fridge for something.

"Like what book I should get for an alien. So if you're this alien and you're stuck on Earth and really bored, what should you read?"

"Uh..." Terry thought about it, pulling back from the fridge and absentmindedly letting out all the cold air as he did. "You should get a book of fairy tales. Aliens don't know anything about Earth, and so much of fiction is based on fairy tales these days."

"That's a really good idea."

"You're not hiding an alien, are you?"

"Heh, I don't have anywhere to hide one. My house is too small. That would make a great sitcom, though. Like, someone has an alien roommate or whatever."

Terry finally removed his lunch bag from the fridge and shut the door. "Bethany, you always come up with the strangest ideas."

"Says the person who claims a baseball player saved the world by throwing a ball into a robot pigeon."

"Hey, that really happened." Terry shook a finger at me as he plopped down on a chair on the other side of the table. "The world would be a much different place if McCann hadn't stopped it from delivering its coded messages. He's a hero. He saved us all."

I snorted. Terry is all the time saying that kind of nonsense. That's why we all love him. I reached into my purse for my phone again, it was time to go clock in. Aldaris was still in my head, and I sensed doubt from him. Eh, I guess I better use italics again, for clarity's sake.

 _I am reminded of something you once said of Kerrigan._

 _Oh, what was that?_

 _'The greatest liars never lie.'_

 _Charlie, do you want me to rat on you or not?_ I got up and went to the computer to clock in. _Anyway, I'll go look around work and see what I can find for you. If you don't like something I pick, I'll sell it back to the store and get credit for something else._

Aldaris didn't answer, and for the moment I ignored him. It's work time, and that means focus. After stashing my purse in a locker, I went out and walked the floor, counting how many carts I had to put up and which ones I needed to get first. A previous shelver left a fiction cart half empty, meaning I needed to get that one out of the way before starting on another. I like working on fiction carts. They go by faster than the nonfiction ones. I picked up a fantasy book on battle dwarves, noticing a piece of paper was sticking out from between the pages.

 _Alright!_ I cheered as I tugged the paper out. _Someone left me a present!_

That's the fun thing about working with used books. People are all the time leaving interesting stuff in their books. In the buyback station, we even tape some of the funnier pictures on the desks. One time someone even left their social security card and birth certificate in a book - they got it back, but still, it was pretty funny. This time, however, my "present" was just a receipt. Ordinarily they're the most boring find, but this one was in korean.

"Whaaaat?" I exclaimed. "This book was in Korea?"

I examined the book once more. Nope, all in english. Maybe the receipt was for something else.

" _Bohnho_..." I tried to read. " _Mohga seh kwaseh mulp'umga-ek_... _mugahseh_?"

This wasn't going to work. I still don't know enough korean to be able to point out any of these words on sight. That's annoying. I really should study more. Surely there are common words on receipts that I should know by now.

I folded the receipt and put it aside. It was too cute to throw away. Now that I was thinking about Korea, I wondered if Aldaris was going to save Cheonha's mother. Somehow I doubt it. Aldaris always gets annoyed at me for suggesting that he should make himself known, but...some things are worth discovery, y'know?

 _Then you mean to suggest that Cheonha's mother is more precious than the entire Protoss race?_

Oh crap, Aldaris was still there? Damage control!

 _Don't mind me, Charlie. I would merely act differently in your situation because I'm all like, emotional and stuff._

 _As much I am willing to believe._ he retorted. _It is wisdom to forsake emotion as a primary motive. You claimed you would not press me in this matter. Have you changed your mind?_

 _No, no. You're a grown up, and I can't tell you what to do. Nothing I said before has changed._ I stashed the receipt on my cart and smiled at a customer. _I'm going to need you to get out of my head. I have to work, and you're distracting._

 _I was hoping to select a book with your assistance._

 _Shoulda told me beforehand. That way I could have come here on my day off, or earlier. I do have a job to do, and I don't know if I can look normal when I'm talking to someone in my head._

 _Very well._

Aldaris didn't say "bye", but I could sense him leaving my head. I sighed with relief. I actually don't mind picking books with Aldaris during work, but erotica books get put on the fiction cart. Soooo _not_ willing to have him look through my eyes and see those book covers. Ugh, and the romance novels too. The awkwardness is just too much for me to handle. At least when I'm here on my day off, I can avoid those sections.

I glanced once more at the receipt. _Poor Cheonha. I wish I could save her mother for her._

/

Author's Notes:

\- Yay, a proper update!

\- Yep, really did find the receipt. Whatever it is dude bought, it cost him 17,000 won, a little over 17 dollars. I can kinda read the signature, but it's probably rude to broadcast a stranger's name on the internet, despite how unlikely it'll be he'll ever find this.


	7. Synaesthesia?

I beamed aboard Aldaris' ship the day after my last entry. Dude wants to read, so why not help him? He's probably so bored right now. I emailed the other guys last night to get them to think of stuff Aldaris will want to read, but until then, it's up to me. Somehow I don't think Aldaris will find nonfiction books on the interrogation of political prisoners as interesting as I do. What? Don't look at me like that. What if I ever get interrogated one day by a tyrannical government? I have to know what to do.

Before going on Aldaris' ship, I'd grabbed a few things. Watership Down was a given, and so was the book of fairy tales that Terry recommended. It has pretty pictures, too, so if Charlie ever gets the the point where he can read them on his own, those'll help him understand. In line with that, I got a Dungeons and Dragons book, Manual of the Planes, 3.5 edition. What? It's good. And since it's a mishmash of human myth, story, religion, and history, it's bound to be fun.

But just in case Aldaris isn't interested in that, I also grabbed my compilation book of O'Henry stories and a Harry Turtledove fantasy. I haven't actually read it yet, but guys like Turtledove books. I also had Fellowship of the Ring, if Aldaris decided to give that a chance. That, added with Heinlein's Farmer in the Sky (I absolutely love that book), there's bound to be something he can handle. I'm a little concerned that this stuff is what I'll like rather than what he'll like, but I've got to figure out his taste in books at some point.

Aldaris wasn't in the lounge when I got there (he's working the teleporter, I guess), so I went to the table and spread out my offerings. Huh, I hope there's nothing awkward in Turtledove's book. I am so not comfortable reading something with sexual content or something like that in front of them. Man, I really should have checked beforehand. Maybe I can get him to read the O'Henry stuff first. \\\\\\\

So as I was messing around with the books, I felt strange. There was something wrong with the room. What was it? It was empty as usual, with just the table and three chairs, then a large, empty floor until you got to the massive window at the side. Hm, I just noticed this now, but whenever Charlie comes in this room, he always sits in exactly one chair - the one with its back to the wall, and that wall's the one with the door in it. Since this chair is too far to the left, no one standing at the door can immediately see him, and he commands a nice view of whatever's out the window. Or is he being less tactical with where he sits than I think he is?

Well, it's not his chair that's giving me trouble. To its left is a series of cabinets along the next wall. I never much looked at those before, but I'm pretty sure they weren't half blocked by crates before. Do Protoss have wooden crates? Is that a thing? I mean, why not have wood-based boxes if you live on a jungle world, but all the other crates I'd seen were in different boxes, made of some kind of metal.

Yeah, boxes, exciting, right? Apparently yes. As I looked at them, something seemed wrong. I felt dizzy, and the smell of deep, rich incense filled my nose. I've counted incense for inventory before, but this was not the cheap stuff you buy for a quarter a stick. It was the smell of rich spices, a concoction without a name but ancient. My head started fuzzing out, and I backed away from the boxes. I fanned my nose with my hand, but it made no difference at all. The fragrance, that sickly sweetness, just wouldn't let me go.

The door! I can't open it on my own, but Aldaris was coming in. Without thinking at all, I waited until he opened it and charged out the door. Ah, good, the smell didn't follow after me. But as soon as I zoomed out the door, Charlie gave me such a glare that I stopped in my tracks.

"What are you doing? Go back inside!" Aldaris grabbed my arm.

I immediately snatched it away, shaking my head like a fan. "No! I can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because..." I paused, suddenly realizing that I had no idea how to explain. "Because...I don't know, I just can't! Huh-uh, no way."

"Are you insane?"

"Dunno. Whatever's in that room is a no."

Aldaris looked inside, only peeking in a bit so that he could keep an eye on me. His expression changed - from that of annoyance, to wide-eyed realization, to suspicion.

"Did you touch anything?"

"Absolutely not! Nope." I shuddered.

That didn't make him happy. Instead, his eyes narrowed, and he said nothing for a minute. Did he think I was lying? I swear, I didn't do anything!

"Come with me."

Unhappy and out of sorts, I followed him. It was a completely silent and awkward walk, all the way back to the bridge. That was when I remembered I left all those books back there. Great. So we went in the bridge, and I figured he would make me sit in the back, like he always does. But no, he pointed me to a side chair at the front console, and he took the main chair himself.

"Bethany, do you know what those boxes contain?"

I shook my head.

"They are the icons of my gods. I had them moved temporarily."

All the blood fell from my face, and to try and get it back, my head collapsed into my hands. I am the crown princess of awkwardness (I met the queen, once. She cartwheeled into a birthday cake). I stayed down in that position while trying to think quick, to try and explain with words what happened. There was that smell, wasn't there? Uh, does that make sense? It's bad enough to do something ridiculous, but even worse when you don't have words for it.

"Well, then..." Oh good, the blood came back to my head. I needed that to blush. "So um, it's like...okay, so I have hypersensitivity, and I can like, sense things...it, uh, happens sometimes. And when I was in the lounge - I swear I didn't touch anything - there was this strange smell coming from the boxes-"

"The icons have no scent. Not from a distance, in any case."

Blush harder! It makes the blood reach my head faster! I lost my words for just a second more, but then took a deep breath.

"Well, I also have synaesthesia." I explained. "That means I record information with one sense, and it's translated as another - like being in a certain place can have a flavor, for example. Normally it just means that letters have specific colors, but weirder stuff happens at times too. The smell was probably simply my brain's way of translating information."

"And what information was this?"

"Information of a, ah, spiritual sort. Like, this sort of ancientness, like an old power. Unfriendly, also. I couldn't breathe." It didn't occur to me until I said it that that was a weird thing to say. Since the smell wasn't a literal smell, it shouldn't have interfered. But it's too late to worry about looking like a freak. Soldier on. "Near as I can figure, either your gods don't like me, or my God doesn't want me around them. More than that, I don't know."

I threw my hands up in surrender, and shrank into the chair, waiting some inevitable lecture or scornful comment. My only hope was that Charlie by now was so used to my general buffoonery that he'd let it slide. Then again, I'd just insinuated that his gods were messed up. So I tensed up and wait for all hell to break loose.

But it didn't. When I, trembling, lifted my eyes from their embarrassed focus on my shoes, Aldaris wasn't mad at all...I think. He was amused, with a side of disdainful, and his yellow eyes stared haughtily down at me. It looked like he might laugh, for a minute. Yet something in his face...was that...understanding? Curiosity? Maybe in my horrified state I was imagining things.

"Perhaps," he said. "Perhaps Aiur's gods have reasons to find you distasteful. Religious discussion is not the purpose of your presence here. Another time, perhaps. Have you brought books?"

"Yeah...but they're all back there. And uh, if I can say so without offending you, I'd really like to not go back to that room again."

That didn't bother him. Charlie just turned his chair to his left, reaching under the console. There was a drawer there, and he opened it and removed something. It was very small, and I couldn't quite tell what it was until he handed it over. Aha! It was an old copy of A Horse and His Boy. It was the one with the great, awkward cover, too, with Aslan's face in the sky and trees that look like sci-fi rock candy on a stick.

"Ooh, I love this book." I said. "And it's even the copy with the really awkward fantasy cover. Awkward fantasy covers are the best. My brother had this whole set."

"You have no objection to reading it, then?"

"Oh no, it's a really great story."

"Then by all means."

I picked up the book and flipped through to the first chapter.

"This is the story," I began. "Of an adventure that happened in Narnia and Calormen and the lands between..."

\\\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

\- Before you get on this chapter for being unrealistic, this has actually happened to me. I was looking at a picture on the wall once, and I viscerally didn't like a certain part of it, and didn't know why. That part, as it so happened, turned out to be a symbol of another religion (I can't remember which at the moment, but I had never seen the particular symbol before.). Fortunately no one of that religion was around at the time, but yeah, the awkwardness is real. There's also elements of other weird events mixed in there (scent thing also happened), so Aldaris is pretty much the only fictitious thing about it.

\- Also, sorry about this not being so long. I do have more to write, but the real world is a thing. On the other hand, I'm not that late posting this, so yay.

\- In case anyone out there is as interested in interrogations/prisoner of war stuff as I am, here's some books you can try.

My Mind on Trial by Eugen Loebl

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-hwan

Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand

Also try:

1984 by George Orwell

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

A biography of St. Francis of Assisi (seriously, read one after Brave New World, you'll need it)


	8. Friends

Statkus bent over the paper. He was no artist, but he wanted this sketch to look good. He'd been on his bed for an hour, drawing with a reference picture on the laptop before him. But finally he was nearly done, both with the pencil and the inking. Only a few more lines to make the picture complete, and Statkus took care of those quickly.

"Alright!" Statkus blew a little on the paper to make sure the ink wouldn't smear, then folded the paper twice. "Okay, I'm done. Now all I have to do is tell Aldaris I have it."

Statkus blinked. He wasn't expecting the blue glow of Protoss technology to sparkle around him so quickly. Was Aldaris watching him? His stomach sank; if Aldaris could watch him without him realizing it, then what else had he seen? Could Aldaris know instantly if Statkus communicated with the the government? ...Could he see when Tanya was over?

These questions and more faded once he realized he wasn't on Aldaris' ship. Statkus groaned; it was another adventure, another waste of his time. It didn't help that he was tired - it was almost evening at home, and he'd planned on going to bed early. Instead, he was standing in a narrow and completely unremarkable hallway. The carpet was brown, the walls tan, and a brown stripe of crown molding ran the length of the hall, except where interrupted by doors of the same brown. Each door sported a number pad near their handles, but other than that, it could have been a hallway anywhere in the world. Statkus groaned again.

 _Great, right when I finally have what Charlie needs to trace me, I'm somewhere random._ Statkus lifted his hands in surrender. _Well, time to tour. If I have to tell someone the truth, then it's not my fault._

With a quick rattle, the door in front of Statkus opened up. Out popped an Asian woman, her sudden exit interrupted by the imprompu American. She stared wide eyed at the foreigner, and Statkus backed away.

"Uh, uh...sorry, I must have the wrong apartment." Statkus stammered, instantly wishing he bothered with foreign languages. "I'll just...I'll just go and find the right one..."

"Statkusu?"

Statkus looked past the first woman to see Cheonha. He almost laughed with relief. "Hey, Cheonha! I guess this is the right apartment after all."

The other Korean frowned and said something to Cheonha. Cheonha gave a cheerful little laugh (which even Statkus noticed was a little fake) and joined the other in the doorway. She pointed to the American.

" _Eee-saram John Statkus-irumeh._ Statkusu, this is Choi Eunha."

"Nice to meet you." Statkus held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, too." Eunha said, half distractedly, before she turned back to Cheonha and went into a long spiel in korean. Statkus stood there blankly, regretting his lack of knowledge. He'd had months to start learning korean, and he'd never so much as considered trying. So he just stood there like an idiot while the girls said...things. John pricked up his ears; did Cheonha just say "date"? It would explain why she suddenly grabbed his arm and stood by his side.

"Date?" Eunha frowned and pointed at Statkus' feet. " _Kudu-rul opsow._ "

Statkus looked down. And his face caught fire. Since he'd been drawing in bed, he wasn't wearing shoes, and now his feet freely wiggled on the stale carpet of the apartment complex.

"Uh...I don't like shoes." Statkus said. "I don't want to wear them."

"John!" Cheonha smacked him on the arm. "I said wear shoes! In Seoul, wear shoes."

John lifted his head with confidence. "Wearing shoes is an artificial custom imposed by society. If no one wore them, no one would need them."

"Yes, but shoes also keep you from stepping in dog poop." Eunha retorted.

Eunha then said something else to Cheonha, but Cheonha just shooed her away with a laugh. So very reluctantly, Eunha went down the hallway. She looked back, but after a long eventuality, finally turned a corner and went out of sight. Cheonha immediately let go of Statkus' arm and backed away. She bit her lip.

"Bethany..." she said, struggling to find the right word. "Bethany...here?"

Statkus shook his head. "It's just me. Your english is pretty good, for a beginner."

Cheonha was confused for a moment, but she eventually nodded. "Thank you."

"So..." Statkus asked. "What now? Ald - I mean, Charlie won't know I'm here right away."

"One, wear shoes. Buy shoes. Two, food. Three..." Cheonha suddenly grinned. "Play Starcraft."

"Starcraft?" John exclaimed. "You play Starcraft?"

Cheonha nodded. "I play Terran."

"Me too." John broke out into a smile of his own. "But I don't have a computer with me."

"No PC Bang in America?"

"PC Bang? What's that?"

"You later know. One, _shoes_. I buy you."

"Okay, okay."

Toby typed into his computer. It was the perfect afternoon for a stay in a coffee shop, wasting away the evening chatting with friends online. He preferred offline, but that's just the way the day shook out. None of his other friends had the evening free, but that was fine. Chen Fu Hao, the friend he met on his accidental teleport to China, was online. It was much later in Beijing, but Fu Hao had the typical university mindset; he well understood the importance of staying up late.

"Fu," Toby typed. "When are you coming to London?"

"Soon!" the words popped up on chat. "I'm applying for scholarships. University is expensive there."

"You're telling me." Toby typed in reply.

He sipped his mocha, and contendedly leaned back into the sofa. This was the life. To be sitting in the loft of a coffee house, surrounded by the scents of various caffeines and the gentle murmur of low-level conversations and keyboards of other patrons clicking away. It was Toby's night off, and this was exactly how he wanted to spend it. Well, if more of his friends were around in-person.

 _Now would be a really good time for Aldaris' teleporter to mess up._ Toby stretched. _Hmm...is that guy looking at me?_

Toby set his sights fulll on the older gentleman sitting at a table near the loft's railing. It was a white guy, some older person with a head of grey. Now that Toby saw him, the guy wasn't looking. He felt a bit silly for blaming the man; the stranger was intently focused on his laptop screen, and wore massive headphones that surely blocked out all sound. Toby shook off his weird feeling.

 _It's sort of odd that an older person would work on a laptop in a coffeeshop like this. Oh, I don't know, I shouldn't judge._

A sudden "ding" caught Toby's attention, and he turned back to his own computer. The chat display read, "I have to study now! Goodnight!" Toby returned his own "goodnight" with disappointment.

 _There goes my only company. Let's check the face of book, why not?_

Toby logged into his facebook account. Much to his delight, there was a message for him. Eagerly clicking the little speech bubble, Toby found a message from STatkus. And only a minute old!

 **John:** Hey Toby, guess where I am right now.

Toby eagerly ran his hands over the keyboard.

 **Toby:** where?

 **John:** I'm in Korea with Cheonha. We're playing Starcraft 2.

 **Toby:** omg! so jealous.

 **John:** She's kicking my butt.

 **Toby:** hahaahaa!

 **John:** It's because she doesn't have a job right now, so she has time to practice.

I don't even own Starcraft 2.

 **Toby:** i wish i was there so bad!

if you don't have scii, how are you playing right now?

 **John:** I'm in a PC Bang. It's a place where people can basically rent the use of a computer by the hour.

They hae Starcraft on on all the computers.

*have

 **Toby:**...we need that in london, so very badly. imagine the tournaments we could have!

 **John:** All the controlss for the game are in Korean.

I don't know what I'm doing, so I really suck.

Toby searched through his laptop bag with all the energy of a five year old with an energy drink. He knew it was somewhere in there...or was it? So far it was nothing but old receipts and repeat drinker coffee cards. And then Toby laughed. This wasn't original Starcraft. He didn't need the disc to play the game.

 **TC:** i have scii on my computer.

can we play on different servers?

 **JS:** Yeah, they set up Global Play. You just have to log in on the Asian server.

 **TC:** kk, then lets get a game going.

Toby happily scrolled across Rose Tyler's face to the Starcraft II icon on his desktop. As he did, the old man watched. Since his table almost faced Toby's position, it was easy enough to watch the younger male, but instantly have his eyes on his own screen if Toby got suspicious. The man typed one final thing into his computer before taking off his headphones and rubbing his eyes. The headphones, lying prone on the table, emitted no sound.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

\- I know it's been a while since I updated. Sorry about that. It's just that real life intervened, and it's been hard having the inspiration to write anything at all. It's been pretty bad. Things are...looking up now, but the temptation to get on a bus and just go is still there. It depends on if I get a job and a house or not. More on that later. Since this is a short chapter, I'll have another short chapter up a bit later soon.

\- Remember not to take my korean too seriously. I'm pretty bad at informal endings, because the korean books I use always teach new words in polite or formal style. I'm hoping there's a chapter later on informal endings. In any case, a polite style ending is always _eh-yo_ or _yo_ , depending on whether or not the base it's attached to ends in a consonant or vowel. The formal style ending is _imneedah_ , including the _i_ only if the base ends in a consonant. Polite style is for when you're talking to strangers, and formal style is for when you're talking to important people, or people much older than you.

\- Oh, and Cheonha has to add the "u" (pronounced "uh") to Statkus' name, because any word that ends in an "s" in korean is pronounced like a "t". That goes for "Aldaris" and "Protoss" too. Also, the english word "date" ( _day-tuh_ ) is used in korean sometimes. Note also that "PC Bang" is pronounced "pee-shee bahng". That's because there is no "see" sound in korean, as the s figure next to the i figure always produces a "sh" sound. Also note the second word is pronounced "bahng" not "bang". All the phrase means is "computer room".


	9. Tragedy

...

So I just had the worst day. Oh, it started out like it always did, with coffee and computer, but then things just got way worse. I know this is supposed to be just a journal of my interactions with a giant alien from Aiur, but reality has hit, and it's hit me hard. It's going to affect everything.

In any case, coffee and computers. I was typing along, talking to a work friend (not Terry) about one of my original fictions. And one of his, too. He's on this thing where he wants to write "the story he would never write" because he thinks it'll make him stronger. So he's writing erotica. I can't believe I'm beta reading it, but such is life. Inappropriate question of the day: is it appropriate to have a rape scene in an erotica? It seems to me that a rape contradicts the natural sexiness that an erotica is supposed to exude. It's supposed to be something that pulls on a reader's natural sensations, and suddenly contradicting this with an unwelcome scene seems like it would ruin the mood.

I dunno, he thinks it develops his male lead - he's the guy that kills the rapist. My coworker claims this is the point the MC is severed from humanity, but honestly, what's so inhuman about murdering a rapist? Whatever, I've said my piece on it.

In any case, I'm just going back and forth with my coworker on the emails about it, just having another morning. And once I hit send, I lean back in my chair and let my mind wander. There's nothing to ponder at my house. The whole first floor is the size of a large room, and from my vantage point at the dining table I can see the kitchen, the stairs up to the bedroom, and the sliding glass doors to the back yard. That's all.

The lack of particularly interesting surroundings highlighted my lack of particularly interesting circumstances. I shelve books, come home, try for another job, complain about how hard it is to get into the accounting field, and then go to sleep. There's some writing in there somewhere.

 _Wow._ I sipped some coffee. _If I weren't totes besties with a 'Toss, then my life sure would be boring. On the upside, coffee with brown sugar tastes good._

I paused a second and checked my head. No, Aldaris wasn't listening, I'm pretty sure. Great! Means I can get away with saying "totes besties."

So I write a little more. Life isn't quite like fantasy; poetic timing almost never happens. So it was more than a hour later when I decided to go check the mail. A letter from my rental company came in. I didn't pay much attention until I got back inside the house and scattered my letters on the table - some ads, a credit card offer, and the rental letter. I played a bit with the ads, thinking about the products inside. Hey, it's great imagination fodder for the writer.

And then I opened the letter.

...

There's no need to copy it here. I really don't want to.

The renter is going bankrupt, and they're selling off their properties. My house is one such property, and the only way I can keep it is if I can buy it. I instantly got my mind into gear; nowadays, you can rent places for about the same as you can put down payments on a house. If the landowner sells my land to the bank, then I can work out a deal with the bank to keep it, can't I? The letter said I have thirty days to move. Will it take that long to work out a deal?

I...I'm going to lose my house. I love this thing. I first noticed it when I walked to the store, and it's close to shops but the trees block almost all of it from the road, so that it's both secluded and convenient. How will I ever find a place as perfect as this?

Worse yet, I don't have an accounting job. I'm still shelving books for a living. I don't have the money to afford a new place.

...Well, life certainly isn't boring, I'll give it that.

-t-

It is over. Everything is over. My options have vanished...nay, not that. My hope was long gone, and I was yet unaware, foolishly hoping against reality. Only these past few moments have my eyes opened to the truth. I am lost, utterly beyond the reach of anything familiar.

I made this discovery when again scanning for the strange energy that drew me to this place. According to my scans, it has now fully dissipated. I first suspected a misalignment in the instruments, as this energy has waned but slowly over time, and that it should so suddenly be no more seemed impossible. I hastily investigated my instruments, determining their status as well as I am able. Nothing appeared out of place, but as I withdrew to find a tech manual, I saw a severence within other devices.

Fragments of the detector array were shorted, and I held out hope that replacing those pieces would right the issue. It did so, but not the issues I anticipated. While the original parts remained inoperational, they reported nominal levels of things not without the ship, but within. The power storage cell, upon which all my hopes rested, is near empty. Whether it was emptied upon my violent arrival to this world, or else my efforts to conserve the recall unit's power have proven in vain, I cannot say. It is more likely the former, as the solar power configuration was not at any time damaged. Certainty evades me.

The accursed recall unit malfunctioned again, I know not how long ago. I lack the will to take action accordingly. Let the humans wander at will. It matters no longer.

Is this the will of the gods? Was I foredoomed to this end? Madness preys upon me, hanging ever nearer on the threshold of my mind. My faint hope, and the trust I have placed in Fortuna...I sink deeper into despair, bound within it. I cannot breathe...would that I had died upon Aiur, and seen none of these humans or the blue ennui of Shakuras! What have I done to scorn the gods and so earn for myself a place in this generation, to witness the descent of the Khala's might and be cast aside at its greatest ultimatum?

This activity is without purpose. For whose benefit do I write? The _humans_? For none shall ever see this record. It is as lost as I!

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

\- This is why there was a big gap between updates. Circumstances aren't quite what they are in the chapter, but they're more or less the same. It has been an extremely hard past month, and even when I had the time to write, I was so stressed that I couldn't get any done. *sigh* And here I was hoping to actually beat NaNoWriMo this year. I should make another month my NaNo, because November just doesn't like me.

For the future, my internet is going to be spotty. I do have to move. That part is very real. I can't afford internet at my new place. The good news is, I'll be able to write without being distracted, and I can get wifi when I need to upload. So the loss of internet is probably going to make it more likely that I write more. We'll see what happens.


	10. The Decision

Statkus was in a great mood. It'd been forever since he played that much Starcraft, and even though he spent most of the time in the PC Bang getting stomped, it was exhilirating. Oh yes, the Koreans really handed his butt to him on a platter, and even when he started playing with Toby, he didn't exactly do well. His old experience came back to him, however, and even despite the non-english controls, he did manage to beat newcomer Toby. Then again, that game was a free for all match between the three of them, and Cheonha finished him off. Statkus still felt it was worth it in the end.

And in the end Statkus stretched out in the comfy, fancy chair of the PC Bang, feeling pretty satisfied. The night was pretty much over - not in Korea, but in England, where apparently the coffeeshop Toby played from was closing. John lost a few more games to Cheonha afterwards, including one where he very nearly stopped her, before quitting for the night.

And night it almost was. Statkus had earlier suspected that Aldaris would beam them up before they even got to the PC Bang in the first place. Then again, the meal didn't take very long. Cheonha seemed strangely nervous about John, and when they ate at the street stall, she scooted her stool away from him. Statkus wondered if he smelled funny. This nervousness seemed to disappear when they finally settled down to play Starcraft, but even then Statkus suspected that she was weirded out by him. And that Aldaris would come take them away. But so far the Protoss hadn't so much as said a word.

 _Maybe he can't find me because I never gave him an important object._ Statkus scratched his chin and started thinking about time differences. _Well, Tanya's out of town, and I don't have work, so, today's as good a day as any to be stuck in Korea._

Statkus glanced over at Cheonha's screen. She was shutting down Starcraft and checking her email. And there came that awkwardness again. Now that they weren't distracted by Starcraft, Cheonha got very quiet, and her body tensed. John looked away before she noticed his gaze.

 _It's so weird. We've known each other for months now, but we don't really know each other. I don't even know what to talk about..._

John looked out the window. It was a bright enough afternoon, but dark edges began creeping up on the sky, making promises of night. Where exactly was he going to go? He didn't have any money, and he couldn't imagine Cheonha letting him stay at her place overnight. That other girl from before would probably come back at some point, if she and Cheonha were good friends.

 _John._

Statkus' eyes widened, and after a moment he remembered to get the look off his face and pretend he was looking on something online.

 _Oh good, you're there._ Statkus thought back at the alien in his head. _What took you so long?_

 _...The recall unit is ready. Proceed to a place where you cannot be noticed._

Statkus suddenly remembered his item. He patted his pockets, and the paper was still there, though certainly crumbled from being in his pocket for several hours. _Uh, okay. I'll get moving. Let me tell Cheonha. Oh hey, I have that special item you said I'm supposed to give you._

A few seconds passed without response. Not in words, anyway, just a slow kind of dread. _Very well._

Statkus tapped her on the shoulder, she winced, pulling her shoulder back. Instantly her expression went blank, and she blinked for a moment - clearly Aldaris had something to say to her. Cheonha nodded, and the two left the PC Bang. As the cold air hit Statkus' face, he realized that this wasn't going to work - between the heavy traffic, tall buildings chock full of apartments, and numerous street stalls, there wasn't any obvious place nearby where they could teleport out.

Cheonha, however, seemed to know where they were going. It took John almost the entire way before he realized that they were headed back to Cheonha's apartment. In absolute silence they made their way back to the apartment, and Cheonha let them in. She nervously shuffled around and closed all the curtains, while Statkus stood there, stiff and uncomfortable. Without the usual "prepare yourself" from Aldaris, blue tentacles of light wrapped around Statkus. And then, far less gently, Cheonha jumped at him and added her own grasping arms as well. The very instant the apartment faded away, Cheonha shoved him aside.

"Uh..." Statkus stammered, barely recovering from his stumble without a fall. "You didn't have to come, you know..."

Either she didn't know all the words, or she ignored them. They'd teleported to the observatory again, and Cheonha immediately searched her surroundings. Aldaris wasn't there, so she headed for the door. There wasn't a knob on the door, but some sort of circle-shaped item. As much as Cheonha poked at it, it didn't do anything - not until it opened, and Aldaris appeared on the other side.

Much to Statkus' shock, the dark glare on the Protoss' face lasted only a moment. Aldaris rolled his eyes and turned away.

"Both of you. This way."

Statkus took a second to focus before following. He always tried to hide his thoughts from Aldaris, and though he never knew if it worked or not, it made him feel better. So as he followed the Aiuran and the Korean to the bridge, he tried his hardest to have "quiet" thoughts. Which is why he didn't notice right away the cloud of gloom enveloping his host. Once they reached the bridge, Aldaris immediately sat down at the controls, without saying "sit down over there" or "do not touch anything." Statkus didn't notice this either, but walked right up to Aldaris, his paper in hand.

"Here's my item." Statkus held it up. "And I'd prefer if you didn't open it up and look at it. It still works if you don't know what it is, right?"

Aldaris stared blankly at Statkus any his paper as though they'd both come from nowhere. With a sudden blink of realization, Aldaris returned to the real world.

"...Yes, I need not know." Aldaris, without giving one hint to his momentary lapse, took the paper and cast it indifferently into a drawer. He then turned completely to the controls. "Prepare yourself."

Aldaris had said it often; Cheonha knew what that meant. She shoved Statkus aside and faced the alien.

"Aldarisu, _sansangneem...uri ommani?_ "

One more the Protoss seemed to recall something, and his face took a sour note. The two of them entered into what Statkus could only guess was a psychic conversation. He blinked. Had he been missing something this whole time? What did Cheonha want from Aldaris? Was that what was making Aldaris so upset? Statkus suddenly felt very stupid. Here he was having fun playing some silly game when there was a lot more at stake. If a powerful alien was upset about something, then who knows what he would do?

 _I have no interest in harming your planet._

Statkus froze.

 _Might I also mention that your efforts to shield your mind are more amusing than effective._

Statkus dared to look up, but Cheonha still seemed to have Aldaris' attention. What little of it there was. Aldaris' stiff posture, his heavy, almost sleepy stare, and the drooping of his shoulders didn't seem to match the desperation of whatever Cheonha was talking about. After a minute, Aldaris simply touched a few buttons on his controls, and Cheonha disappeared into the blue. Aldaris reached up and rubbed his head, the same weight still clearly on his mind.

"Uh, is something wrong?" Statkus asked. "Are you close to finding a way home?"

Aldaris turned the red of his eyes toward the human, then stretched out and pushed another few buttons. More blue. Then Statkus' familiar apartment surrounded him. He glanced out the window. It had been near sunset in Korea, but here it was fully black out the window. The LED of his clock read 3:24. Statkus yawned, sitting gently on his bed. As much as he wanted to sleep, he wanted more to record what was going on. He had Cheonha's email address, too.

-t-

"Life...why oh life, why?" I muttered for the forty bajillionth time.

Me and life have a lot of arguing to do. Oh man, I've been up the whole night trying to pack my life away. Granted, a lot of it is still in plastic tubs from the fire, but I'm just so frustrated with everything that I could scream. I had applied for a bank job, but I just got an email saying that I didn't get it. That job not only would have taken care of my rent at a new place, but also I could have gotten a cute little pink scooter to go back and forth between work. I still have my shelving job, but is that really going to be enough? I've already been rejected for one place to stay. Yep, in less than a day, too. Which is why I've been up since five in the morning (it's eight something now), too stressed out to do anything besides move on with life.

As I've always done for the past several months, I turned to Infected Mushroom for help. As much as blasting Send me an Angel isn't going to give me a job or a place to live, it does make me feel better.

"Oh Duvdev, oh Erez." I sighed as I typed into my computer. "Make it all better for me."

There's something nice about singing loudly along with the hebrew lyrics of song that started to make be feel a little better. I made a mental note to play their remix of Atid Matok next. That's when I remembered that I don't have the cash to get internet set up at my new place. Oh my Mushroom...what will I do without you?

"Bethany, if you will consent to silence that noise for a moment, it would be much appreciated."

Aw. I hit pause on the computer screen. "Yeah, what's up?"

"I have decided to retrieve Cheonha's mother."

My eyes shot up. "Whaaat? What brought this about?"

"I have considered the matter. Though it bears a certain risk, I wish to aid her in this matter."

I grinned, despite Aldaris not being able to see it. "See there? You're a nice person. I told you so."

"Not nearly so nice as you believe."

"All evidence indicates otherwise." I chuckled. "Okay, so when are we doing things?"

"It is night in Korea now. When the sun rises, I wish to go. Unless you can see any further reason for delay."

I thought for a second. I have the day off, so that's plenty of time for me to do Korean stuff. Given all the time zone shenanigans, I'll probably miss out on a lot of sleep tomorrow night, but whatever. I'm not going to get kicked out in the next two days, so it'll be alright.

"Is something troubling you?"

Ugh, like I want to complain about my personal life to the unsympathetic alien in the sky. "I just have to move, for stupid reasons. Anyway, we need to think this out. And you remember that money that accidentally teleported to your ship when you first got here? I want to go with Cheonha to buy things in Seoul for the North Koreans. They'd get in a huge trouble, more than likely, if they were caught with something that had english words on the label. I also want to get into contact with Toby and bring him along."

"Bethany, do I assume correctly that you have been considering this matter since you first heard of it, despite my initial negative answer?"

"Maaabye!"

\\\\\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

\- I really do have an excuse for late updates now. I don't have internet right now, so I have to travel to places with wifi to update. I also really do need to get on to profitable writing.

\- I have seen most of LotV, but had to go to written summaries soon after. It's terrible. Maybe the gameplay makes up for the crappy story, but holy hell, the suck is strong with the plot.

\- Oh, and fun time zone shenanigans! This is the first time I've really tried to make the time zones line up, and all but Toby's should be accurate in the past couple chapters. Without internet, it's kinda hard to look up the correct times. But if you think of Cheonha and John playing for a long time, then it should seem relatively reasonable. Should.


	11. Adventures in NK, part 1

I paced the floor of Aldaris' observatory, excited. This was really unexpected, honestly. I can hardly believe that life with Aldaris is way more calm than my own personal drama. Yeesh, I'm not going to record the personal drama here, though. This record is strictly for alien related activities. Besides, I'm relishing the distraction from all the crap going on in my life. We're going to get Cheonha's omma! I can't wait!

But for right now, I set aside my excitement. We have to focus and know what we're doing. I went over the things that we bought in Seoul, digging through a bag while Cheonha did a last minute check of the other. We didn't have time to get much. It turns out that we didn't wait as long as Aldaris thought. Cheonha convinced him we needed to go at night. Either that, or Cheonha just wanted to get going right away.

Well, whatever the reason was, we both were standing there on the bridge of the ship, near about ready to go down. Cheonha was already in the most boring clothes she could find in Seoul: some khaki pants and a dull blue shirt. I just hope we have enough stuff for Cheonha to bribe her way past any danger. Cheonha said she didn't live in a prison camp, but you never know who might be tempted to talk.

"Alright, Cheonha, _yogi issoyo._ " I handed her the other bag of stuff. "Good luck."

Horror filled Cheonha's eyes. "You not go?"

I shook my head. " _Andeh. Miguk saramieyo._ They see a foreigner, and it's arrest for the both of us."

"That is the case?" Aldaris lifted an eyebrow at me. "They will not kill you?"

"Oh, Cheonha they definitely will. I get to be set up as a foreign hostage, to rot in prison until my government buys my freedom with some kind of concession. Then comes the inevitable questions about how a resident of the US ends up half a world away, so I'm hoping you're not about to let things come to that."

"It is not preferrable to send Cheonha alone."

I shrugged. "Yeah, well, we can't send me. Even if I weren't American, as a white person I'd be immediately taken as one, and I don't know enough german to fake being European anyway. There'd be all kinds of talk, too, because we can't assume everyone's asleep."

"Then I suppose it would do no good to send Toby. Despite his darker skin, or indeed, because of it, he also will be immediately recognized as out of place. Though it is undesireable, I suppose there is no other to send with her." Aldaris shook his head at her. "Pity."

Despite her weak english, Cheonha seemed to be keeping up with our conversation pretty well. Or else she wasn't overtly confused. She looked back and forth at us until we stopped, and she finally settled on Aldaris, walking up to him uncertainly.

" _Kurojiman.._." she said. " _Kurojiman..._ blue. Blue...light. Omma-ni, blue light..." Frustrated, Cheonha swung her hands as though around an orb, and made whooshing sounds. "Blue light to ship."

"Ah!" I said. "Teleporter? Teleport Omma-ni?"

" _Ne_!" Cheonha pointed at me with a flat hand. "Teleporter Omma-ni!"

Aldaris shook his head. "No, I cannot travel so closely to the planet. To do so risks detection. While I can recall those whose..." It was Aldaris' turn to struggle with english for a bit, but he didn't resort to gestures. He sighed a second before trying again. "The configurations of the four of you are recorded in the computers, so I can retrieve you from a greater distance. I cannot recall someone unknown, nor would I at a distance be able to identify one person specifically."

Well, I understood all that, but Cheonha still stood there expectantly. Thankfully for him, the Protoss can psychically transmit images and feelings as well as words, and for a minute or two they talked things out silently. I could still hear and see a few images (like for example, the recall's blue light with a large X over it). Aldaris wasn't hiding it from me, but I didn't pay that much attention. We all knew what had to happen. Cheonha too, judging from her nervous shaking once it finally sank in she was going alone. She stared at the floor, cold fear stalking across her face.

Then Aldaris did say some things that I couldn't hear. They were nice things, I think. Or maybe he was asking if she was sure she wanted to go through with it; Cheonha answered whatever he was saying with a nod, and a new expression replaced the fear in her eyes. It was a visage I hadn't seen in a long time, not since that first day I saw her and she accused me of being an American. It was the face that hid many a secret, and many a secret pain. Pretty much typical for the type of tyranny she emerged from.

Aldaris teleported her down, and she disappeared. I stood there like an idiot, wondering how I could possibly be useful. Was Aldaris going to send me back home now?

"You will stay." Aldaris replied as he took his seat at the front console. "It may arise that I need your counsel, and in any case, you will help Cheonha's mother when she is brought to Seoul."

"Oh, mm'kay." I nodded and headed for the chairs in the back. "So we're going to monitor her from here, right? We'll be able to see her on the screen?"

"No." Aldaris started messing with some control or another. "It is as I said before. I cannot remain in near proximity to your planet. At best I may briefly monitor her mind for any source of trouble."

I froze. "So...wait, like, we just sent them down there, and they're basically alone? Like something could go wrong and we'd never know it unless you just happened to check?"

"That is not entirely the case." Aldaris glanced at me over his shoulder, kinda amused. "I have other options, loathe that I am to waste time in explaining them to you."

"Not to mention loathe to inform the little human about Protoss tech."

"Precisely. Now keep quiet until you are needed."

"Got it." I said, scrunching my way into the seat.

How awkward. I get to sit and do nothing while a friend of mine is in great peril. And counsel? What did he mean by that? I mean, I've read some books on North Korea, but books can only tell you so much. I suddenly really regretted being the most knowledgeable person available. If something goes wrong, I'll likely get a nice heaping helping of blame. And that'll be the happiest part of the whole experience.

Well, no panic attacks in front of the Protoss, I suppose. Time to sit back and think of...I dunno, pretty dresses? No, my will. Definitely my last will and testament. How have I not written that out before? I began to regret not bringing my purse; there's at least a one-dollar notebook in there.

"Bethany."

"Yes?"

"What happens if Cheonha is caught?"

"Uh, well, that depends." I thought a second. "Because they don't know she went out of the country, she _might_ be okay for a little while. They'd definitely tell a superior about it, but I wouldn't imagine she'd get arrested right away. She'd have at least a few hours before someone spoke to her, and depending how lucky she is, a proper interrogator won't even be around. In which case, teleporting her out would be simple."

"What is the worst case scenario?"

"Hm, someone immediately confronting her, I guess. Like a norm-setter or somebody in charge starts asking her where she's been. Possibly someone might get suspicious about the South Korean products Cheonha has with her, but I predict that any potential denunciations will still take time to find the right ears."

"Her ultimate fate?"

"Death, probably. Depending on how she handles interrogation, possible sentencing to a labor camp. But death is more likely. By the by, don't let word of mouth stop you from teleporting her out. Two people disappearing in a flash of blue light isn't the kind of thing you can say to a boss in America, much less a tyranny. People'd get punished for saying something 'stupid' like that."

"I have already considered the matter." he said. "A small risk is of no concern."

I paused. Somehow the way he said that didn't seem very like him. Was he sad or something? \\\\\\\ He didn't look sad. At the same time, something was off. Aldaris had never explained why he was saving Cheonha's mother. He had plenty of reasons not to. As much as I want him to help, helping others when you know virtually nothing about them means you're more likely to do damage than good. You don't get to be Charlie's age without knowing that, I'd imagine. Especially if you have Charlie's job, all "impartial observer" and whatnot. That's not even referencing Aldaris wanting to stay hidden.

I'm not a psychic, but clearly you didn't have to be one to see the darkness billowing around Aldaris. He wasn' t even looking at me, but I could see that the usual high arch of his shoulders now slumped over. He's been trapped in a ship for months without slouching, and now he gives in? None of this makes a lick of sense.

Aldaris could probably hear what I was thinking, and I wasn't trying to hide my thoughts anyway. He turned to me my doubtful frown, and I looked up expectantly. He rolled his eyes and went back to the computer.

"No." he said simply. "You are not entitled to an explanation. Return to thinking of your will. Strange you have not finished it long before now. I could kill you at any time."

"Yeah, but you won't."

"You still doubt my willingness to do so?"

"Yep. It's not like you have anything to gain from my death. Besides, since you won't explain why you're helping Cheonha," I grinned. "Then I have no choice but to assume that you're a nice person."

Aldaris shook his head. "You too greatly enjoy reckless assumptions."

"Reckless assumptions are the best kind."

"Be silent. Cease distracting me."

I did, as much as I could for not being able to hide my thoughts from the local telepath. Alright, back to my will. It's the only thing I can do to distract myself from thoughts of all the bad things that might happen to Cheonha.

-t-

Cheonha flinched the instant the blue arms of the recall unit let her go. Once the energy dissipated, all light vanished, and darkness overwhelmed her senses. All but smell, that is, which found itself greeted by a strange and altogether unpleasant scent. The farmlands, of course, which were all the more pungeant for their absense the past few months. Pushing aside memories she very much wanted to forget, Cheonha walked forward.

They'd gone over all the plans, already, her and Aldaris. The Protoss told her he was going to put her down several yards away from the village, down a small incline that would, at that distance, obscure the initial recall. And so he'd done; Cheonha was now on a dirt path between two cornfields. In the darkness of the night a stranger wouldn't know where they stood. Cheonha, however, knew by little, subtle signs where exactly she was. She was just east of the cluster of huts and shanties that constituted "home."

Omma, unfortunately, stayed near the center of the village. It was for the best that Omma stayed in this unfortunate location, as "Aunt" Minhi was the only one who wouldn't turn her away. Cheonha hoped so, at least, and sudden fears propelled her forward.

 _What if Omma isn't there anymore? What if...what if...?_

She didn't allow her thoughts to go that direction. Aldaris had said that this was her one chance to look for Omma, so all the doubts she felt would have to return back to the recesses of her mind. Only a hike in the dark wasn't so interesting, and Cheonha had to forcefully focus on her surroundings to stop worrying about the worst. It was then she noticed the pale purple growing on the horizon; soon it would be morning, and with it the workers would be up. Cheonha tightened her grip on her face; not a muscle could be out of order, to reveal an emotion or secret. She could get away with seeing some of the old faces for a little while, perhaps. She forced herself not to walk faster.

Cheonha entered the village with her head down, staring resolutely at the dirt at her feet. Strange it was how everything so quickly came back to her. The self-control, the unassuming pace, and the automatic path she took to the communal house without even looking up. Cheonha suddenly felt better.

Despite having her head down, Cheonha could still see when people were in the way. Much to her despair, three pairs of feet blocked half of the dirt pathway. Cheonha carefully veered right, only to find that one of the sets of feet stepping right in her way.

"Hey, is that Cheonha?" the owner of the male voice grabbed her arm. "Cheonha, where have you been?"

Cheonha gritted her teeth with only the slightest movement of her jaw. There was no mistaking Taeho's voice. She didn't guess what Taeho and his friends were doing up so early, and she kept her eyes still on the path.

"Cheonha- _shee_ , don't be shy." she didn't need to look at Taeho to see his spreading grin. "What were you doing, being gone for so long?"

"Working."

She shoved away his arm, but Taeho grabbed it again. "Without telling your mother? It was so sad having to hear her, 'oh, my Cheonha, where is my Cheonha?' It's not filial to leave your mother alone."

"I'm going to see her now." Cheonha got her arm free, but by now the other two guys were standing in her way as well. She looked up with a dull, unmoving gaze at the three, then swung one of the bags around her shoulder. "Here. Now please get out of my way."

Taeho took the bag, but he didn't move. He inspected its contents, and the other two guys looked over his shoulders. Sensing a pause, Cheonha shuffled to the side to get past them. One of the cronies immediately put out an arm in front of her.

"Hey, how did you get this stuff?" the crony asked.

"With money."

"What money?"

"From work."

"Work, huh?" Taeho grinned. "Which man were you _working_ for? A rich one, right? You're making me feel jealous."

"If you're so concerned about how filial I am," she said without emotion. "Then take the bag and let me see my mother."

"Your mother's nearly dead, anyway," a crony chirped, his arm gesturing wildly as he spoke. "It's no good to waste food on her."

Cheonha tensed, and her control started to slip. "Please...just let me see my mother. Here, take this other bag and let me by."

"That's the trouble." Taeho's grin was as limp as a fish. "This stuff you have is all foreign."

"...It's Korean."

"It's South Korean." a crony spat. "And they're the running dogs of foreigners."

"It's _food_." Cheonha retorted. "Better we eat it than them. If you report me, they'll only take the food away."

"Tell you what," Taeho reached for the second bag, and Cheonha didn't stop him from taking it. "Let's not argue. You look so beautiful these days! Come back to my place for now, and we'll call it even."

Cheonha firmly shook her head. If only she could delay him! "Your friend said my mother was sick. I'll come to your place after work. Right now I have to see her."

"No, there's still a little night left. It won't take long. You can see her when the sun comes up." He tugged at her arm. "Hurry up. I have to go to work soon."

Cheonha panicked. If she ran, they would only come after her and it would attract attention. Begging wouldn't work, but going with this idiot was less preferable than death. Aldaris would surely rescue her, right? But if he did, there wasn't going to be a second chance to get her mother.

Shaking, but firm, Cheonha stood her ground. "No, there isn't enough time. Look, the sun's coming up already."

Taeho held up the bag. "Sangmin can say I'm sick. Now let's go."

"I...I don't want to."

Despite the variance in their living conditions, Taeho was stronger, and his grip like a pincer. He pulled Cheonha close. "Don't you want to see your mother? I'm trying to help you. If the chief sees you with these foreign goods and looking so fat he's going to have you arrested. You need to hide. Don't you know they've put a ban on travelling these days? No matter where you've been they'll be suspicious, and I can help you think of a good excuse."

Cheonha only tugged at her imprisoned arm. Taeho probably wasn't lying about the ban on travelling, but who were the bosses to stop a Protoss? If only she could get away!

-t-

I didn't think about writing my will for long. Aldaris had some way of keeping track of Cheonha, and all of a sudden, he stiffened. Immediately alert, I tried my hardest not to say anything. I kinda hoped he'd mentally project what he was seeing into my mind, but I don't know if he can do that. He's already channeling Cheonha's vision into his own mind from Lord knows how far. In any case, I didn't dare distract him.

He turned back, looking at me with a strange, almost suspicious expression.

"What's wrong?" I exclaimed, jumping up from my seat. "What do I need to do?"

Aldaris didn't answer, but studied me a second, looking doubtful. He quickly turned back to the controls. For some reason, he stopped, not doing anything. Then he glared at me again (what did _I_ do?) and turned right on back. If he'd kept it up he'd be spinning in circles. But he didn't. And then the teleporter's light flashed around us. That's right, "us."

 _Son of a_ bleep _, Charlie!_

We appeared right in the middle of a small cluster of old shacks that served as homes. The still-waking morning light illuminated the figures of four people: Cheonha and three dudes. One of the dudes had Cheonha by the arm. Between that and suddenly finding myself with Aldaris in a place neither of us should be, I was stunned out of action. So too was everybody else, including the suspicious faces that started to peep out from various places. Hush whispers surrounded us, and a startled cry was the only other sound.

That moment, frozen in time, is etched deep in my memory. Despite the fact I'd been with Aldaris for several minutes beforehand, he looked completely different among the ramshackle houses. What with him in his fancy, elaborate clothes, the last thing you'd imagine him surrounded by was squalor. His deeply embroidered purple robes couldn't have been more obvious if they were neon and shone like lanterns.

And slowly, my face fell into my hands.

 _Why oh why must the stupids attack all people, of all ages and races?_

Aldaris heard my thoughts, but said nothing.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

\- Sorry about the gap. Life. *sigh* I'm going to stop making promises about when I update. I think it goes faster when I don't. I have been working a little on this, but I've also been working on other things. Signs of what happened will probably appear in later chapters. For right now, all I can say is "life."

\- Technically, "omma" (mother) in korean is only spelled with one "m" character. However, I write it with two because I want to distinguish it from the german "oma", which means grandmother. Plus it just looks better to me that way, I don't know why.

\- In the Far East they don't point with one finger. It's considered rude.


	12. Adventures in NK, part 2

Last we left off, my dear, dear friend Aldaris had decided the best thing to do was teleport both me and himself down to North Korea. This, despite my insistence that the appearance of a foreigner put the locals in danger, and despite Aldaris' own supposed unwillingness to appear on Earth. But here he was, standing there amidst a cluster of dirty shacks. Aldaris' maroon robes were fancy by Western standards, despite being just whatever her felt like bumming around in on his ship, and in the squalor they made him stand out like a king.

So too did his stare. His yellow stare ran over the crowd of bewildered onlookers. There wasn't many at first, just a few people before us and some faces peering out of windows before ducking away long enough to tell someone else; where one face disappeared, two returned.

Aldaris focused mostly on three guys - idiots, by the looks of them, or else my intuition was in top form. One of them had hold of Cheonha's arm, but I didn't do anything. I didn't need to. Aldaris' arrival had surprised them to the point of stupefaction, and none resisted when Cheonha pulled her arm away. They didn't even do anything when Cheonha snatched back her grocery bags and shoved her way past them. The guy in the center, the tallest of the three (dude barely made it up to my shoulders), weakly called to Cheonha and half-said something. He didn't finish his sentence, not daring to turn his back on the alien. Instead, the three of them backed away until they managed to get behind one of the houses.

But the people came nonetheless. Despite those three guys, nobody else freaked out. They kept their distance and formed a crowd of quiet chatter, but stared at us the whole time. Any time Aldaris looked at them, they suddenly fell silent. For his part, Charlie was just inspecting the crowd, with all the stern dignity a general over his troops.

 _Don't say a word._ I thought at him, adding a scowl. _Don't let them know you speak english. No clue why you thought it was such a good idea to come down here, but you might as well be on your best behavior now._

Aldaris answered me only with a raised eyebrow.

I snorted and turned away, trying to look as though we weren't communicating. _Oh, so you've got no excuses for yourself, then?_

 _I tire of hiding, as though I feared humanity._ Aldaris answered, I think in a way that only I could hear. If not, then that's another thing I'm adding to the list of things I need to yell at him for. _I wish to see for myself the retrograde of this culture._

 _Aaaand you can't do that from Cheonha's perspective?_ I looked back when I asked this, only to notice that Aldaris was walking away, apparently continuing his little tour.

 _These people clearly lack recording devices, and likely any form of weaponry. Now be silent and remain composed. I will not allow them to arrest you._

I shook my head. _Oh, me and you are going to have_ _ **words**_ _later, young man._

 _Seeing that I am neither young nor one of mankind, it would appear that your statement contains three falsehoods._

Well, it's hard to stay mad at someone who can answer with wit, so I stopped pestering him. The village Aldaris was going somewhere to the right, over on the edge of the village where the cornfields began. I didn't follow him. Besides not wanting to appear too closely associated, I wanted to see where Cheonha went. It was a silly idea because she was already out of sight. Not to mention that now that my best good buddy was doing his own thing, the locals didn't feel the need to keep as far a distance. I'm clearly not as scary as a giant gingerbread man with evil eyes.

But they didn't do anything more than stare. A few glared at me with suspicion, but I just kept moving. I didn't know where Cheonha had gone, and asking somebody was clearly out of the question. Fortunately some noise caught my attention from one of the larger houses. Cheonha was inside; I could hear her voice, as well as the voice of another woman, someone probably older. Judging from the sort of angry sound of it, the person talking probably wasn't Cheonha's mom.

In the meantime, some of the villagers followed me. I looked around for some authority figure, but they were all more or less dressed alike, and none showed signs of being in charge. They only watched from as near as they dared, an inscrutable look on their faces. I don't think I need mention how scrawny they were, or how short. Only the favored in North Korea get privileges, and clearly these guys were left out. This sort of thing...it's hard to talk about. Being healthy in a place where everyone else isn't...there's no words for this. You can read about it as much as you want, but seeing it is another matter. So I won't attempt to put into words the horrors starvation can bring. It seems wrong, somehow.

As I was deciding whether or not to go inside the building, Aldaris walked up from behind me, clearly done with his tour.

 _Cheonha's in there._ I pointed.

 _Yes, I know. Go inside-_

A couple of other guys, different ones than from before, had made their way to the front of the crowd. These ones actually did look angry, and two of them carried large sticks. They said something that sounded rude, I think some kind of command to leave.

" _Nolli-ji maseyo_." I retorted, trying to look all important and official-like. I then gestured over to Aldaris. " _Ee-pun...Ee-pun Sun Yushik-imneedah. Chonkyong hashimshiyo._ "

That made them...I dunno, kinda back off. As much as they seemed to want us to go, \\\\\\\ well, they're as stumped by the random appearance of an alien as anyone would be, I guess.

Cheonha's sad face suddenly peeped out of the door, and she saw us standing outside. She gestured to me, and I followed her inside. For the sake of manners, I won't say how bad it smelled in that house. The inhabitants clearly tried to keep it clean; fresh broom marks scarred the dirt floor, and the old crates that made up the table (chairs?) were neatly set against the flimsy wall. A dirty curtain separated the front room from whatever was in the back, and before we reached it, another woman opened it from the other side. She flung it aside casually, but froze the instant she saw me.

" _No..._ " she gasped. " _No-nun Miguk saramieyo_?"

She said it quickly, but I did understand. But I didn't answer. I'm a European now, not an American, remember? I don't speak english, either. Yeah. In any case, the room behind had four or five pallets in the back, each occupied by other women in various states of waking up. Nobody said anything to me, but oh did they stare. I didn't stare back. I just followed Cheonha until she got all the way to the back, to the last pallet and woman. On this pile of cornstalks lay a woman, thinner than the rest. She looked as near to death as anyone I'd ever seen, except for her eyes. Tears shone on them, despite the dark circles raccooning under them.

 _Pellagra_... I remembered a hunger-related disease from a book. _She needs to eat some kind of meat._

" _Uri Ommani_?" I asked.

" _Ne_." Cheonha nodded, starting to cry.

 _Charlie, we found her. Please tell me you're ready to go._

 _Yes. What is the state of Cheonha's mother?_

 _Bad, but I think she'll make it. Nothing some good treatment can't fix._

 _We shall take her to a hospital then?_

 _No, it'd be better if we just take her to Cheonha's place. She can rest, and when she's gained weight, it'll look like she's been through China, instead of, y'know, been rescued by an alien._

 _Very well._

A collective gasp sounded from outside, as well as some frightened cries. Aldaris' teleporter. He'd have to go first, as he's the only one with one of those teleporter crystal thingies, and somebody has to work the controls to get us women-folk up there. Some of the women in the house ran outside to see what the commotion was, but me and Cheonha ignored them. Cheonha had a blanket with her, and we carefully placed Omma on it, then wrapped it around her like a sling, so that if we each took the corners, we could carry her mom. ...It's not like she weighed all that much.

We didn't have to, for the time being. Up went the blue lights, and the sound of shocked onlookers faded away. We appeared on the bridge of Aldaris' ship again. He turned to us, but whatever he'd meant to say never came out. He gaped at the poor woman in the blanket then scowled at me.

"Did you not claim she was well?"

"She's as good as she was going to be." I replied, folding my arms. "Pellagra is a starvation related disease. Not contagious, more or less easily dealt with. Now instead of scolding me, let's talk about someone else's misbehavior, shall we?"

"We shall not." Aldaris turned back to the controls. "You return with Cheonha and help her with her mother. I shall retrieve you at a later time."

"Cheonha..."

It was the first thing she said. Cheonha's mom, despite her condition, she seemed almost lively, and the sight of the golden ship and the tall Protoss only seemed to enliven her more. She said something else to Cheonha, and I recognised "who" and the formal word for "person" - _pun_ , like I'd said before. Cheonha answered with words too fast and complicated for me. I caught an "Aldaris" or two, but other than that her gentle words escaped me. Most amazing of all, Omma wasn't freaked out at all. She, completely unprepared, seemed no more frightened of her unusual circumstances than she was of the North Korean countryside.

Omma smiled faintly at Aldaris, but I wasn't standing at the right angle to see his reaction. Didn't have a chance to move, either, as the next few seconds saw another round of teleporter light, and we were there in the middle of an apartment, which I could only assume was Cheonha's.

"Bethany," Cheonha tugged at my sleeve. "Help me, Omma."

" _Ne,_ " I answered, reaching for the corners of the blanket. "Where are we taking her?"

\\\\\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

\- I tried my best, but of course not that many people know about life in North Korea. Likewise, something that happens a lot with survivors of tyrannies is that they happen to be people who are most likely to make it through hard times - that is, the comparatively well-off. Cheonha isn't from a well-off family. What I've written here is what little I know on North Korea, plus some stuff I've read about other nations under the worst of communism. Each communist nation turns out its own way, but they tend to have certain things in common. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, but for now just know that this scene is an amalgamation of what I know on the topic.

\- LIkewise, don't take my written korean too seriously either. The struggle in writing it with Roman letters is that I can't convey the proper sounds in a way that makes sense to non-korean speakers. The translation for what I said will be in the next chapter.


	13. Safe and Sound

Cheonha flipped the drain on the tub, and the water drained away. It was a little difficult to move her mother without Bethany's help, but Cheonha managed to carefully dry her mother and dress her. She hadn't had enough time to buy her mother any proper clothes, but for the time being her own things would work. They were the same size, or would be if Lee Suha weighed the right amount for her age. Being away from the old environment strengthened Suha, and, after a session with the blow dryer, she was able to walk back to Cheonha's bedroom so long as she kept one arm firmly clasped to her daughter's shoulders.

They emerged together from the bathroom to the combined living area and kitchen. That American, Bethany, stood puttering over the sink. The smell of cooked onions still hung in the air, but wouldn't be for much longer, as Bethany was scrubbing out the frying pan. She smiled at the Lees briefly before going back to work.

Cheonha went ahead and brought her mother to the bedroom, before the American could stumble through a few clumsy attempts at korean words. She led her mother through the door and to the bed, tugging away the top comforter before she lay Suha down. Strangely, Suha still felt cold. Cheonha slipped into the bed beside her, where they cuddled.

"Cheonha," Suha glanced back towards the door. "Was that an American?"

"Yes." Cheonha answered, brushing a piece of hair out of her mother's face. "She's Bethany."

"She isn't dangerous?"

"No. Nothing they said about America or South Korea or England is true. It was all a lie." With a smile, Cheonha hugged her mother tight. "And we don't have to worry about lies anymore."

"Are we in South Korea now?"

"Yes, we're in Seoul."

"How exactly did we get here?" Suha's brow furrowed. "And who was that tall, brown person? Why did he have a beard without a face?"

"His name is Aldaris, Omma-ni. He's a Protoss, and from very far away." Cheonha paused a moment, uncertain if she really should tell her mother about Starcraft. "I'll explain later, but we have to keep him a secret. We can't tell anyone that he's the one who brought you here, okay? If we do..."

Cheonha suddenly stopped, realizing that she had no idea what the consequences of telling on Aldaris would be. All she knew was that he was a character in a video game, and that he didn't want to be talked about. She blushed at the thought of telling someone that a video game character was real. People would laugh in her face. Unless Aldaris came down to Earth himself, but so far as Cheonha knew, he never seemed to want to. Not that she minded. It was nice to have a secret friend. Cheonha found herself wishing that she could draw pictures with him again.

"Anyway," Cheonha continued. "As you saw before, he's a very strange person. He's...shy, and doesn't want to speak to humans right now. I don't think anybody knows about him, and if they did, they would be frightened."

"I don't like the sound of that, Cheonha. He seems like a nice enough person to me. Isn't he the one who took you away before?"

"He is, but we still have to keep it quiet for now. I'll show you something later that will make things clear. But for now, you have to stay inside my apartment for two weeks. You have to eat lots of good food so that you can look like you were brought over by professional smugglers. By that time things will make more sense."

"Lying is not good practice." Suha shifted in the bed, stretching for comfort as she yawned. "But I am too tired to argue. Ah, I haven't had good rice in a very long time. And such a nice place to rest! Cheonha, how did you get all these things?"

"The government gives people from the north money for a year when they come to live in the south. I still have plenty of time left."

Suha, eyes shut tight in exhausted contentment, nodded. "Hmm, I'll get a job before then. There's no sense in waiting until the money runs out."

"Omma, you'll get a year of money too."

"I will?" Omma peeked out of one eyelid. "That's good then. Oh, Cheonha, I want to sleep now. But I'm so afraid that if I do, I'll wake up in old Minhi's hut, and you'll be gone."

"No, no," Cheonha snuggled in close against her mother. "I'm not going to go anywhere, Omma. I'm going to stay right here and take care of you."

"That's good, that's good." Suha sleepily murmured. For a brief moment, she opened her eyes again. "Cheonha, I want to speak to Aldaris sometime later. I want to thank him for everything he's done."

Cheonha considered this with a hint of dismay, wondering how in the world she could get Aldaris to do anything. "I don't always see him, Omma. I don't know when we'd get a chance to speak next."

"Any time he's available, that's fine." Suha yawned again. "Oh Cheonha, I'm so happy to see you again..."

"I'm happy too, Omma."

Suha stopped speaking, but with her frail, thin arms, she embraced her little girl and relaxed. Her breathing slowed, and she fell into a peaceful sleep. Cheonha too finally realized how tired she was. She'd been up for hours, long before she'd played so many games of Starcraft with John.

The sounds of water and dishes no longer sounded from the kitchen. A faint electrical scent was in the air, and to Cheonha it was familiar enough to identify with the Protoss' teleportation device. Bethany was gone, apparently, and that was fine by Cheonha. Now that she had her mother back and they were both safely far away from their enemies, her whole world was only as large as the twin bed. Cheonha fell into a deep sleep, more content than she had ever been in her entire life.

-t-

Ah, awkwardness. That one feeling that, no matter where I am or what's happening, remains a familiar component of life. There was really no place for me at Cheonha's apartment. They ate, they went to the bathroom to clean up, and then they went to Cheonha's room. I'm just the awkward near stranger hanging around in their house. I cleaned up the kitchen so I wouldn't feel useless, but once they went into Cheonha's bedroom, there was nothing for me to do but wait until Aldy picked me up.

Yeesh, "Aldy" sounds ridiculous. I'll just stick with "Charlie" for short, then.

Anyway, so I cleaned up the kitchen, then sat on the couch and stared at the wall a bit. Turning on the TV probably would have bothered Cheonha and her mom, so I didn't mess with it. I took a book down from a shelf built into the wall, but unfortunately, I'm still behind in learning Korean. I could pronounce the words, but not know their meaning. I did kinda half get the title, which was something like "Chance to Leave the House of Long Life", but I'm pretty sure that's too mangled to be accurate. Maybe it's a metaphor for something. It was written by Shin Gyonsook, but more than that I don't know. I put the book back and sat on the couch. Thought about stuff. Stories I was writing. What I was going to tell Toby and John. Pretty dresses.

Telepathic conversations are uh, interesting. Somehow I knew Aldaris was talking to me, even though he didn't say any words. He sort of did this signal in my mind, like the mental equivalent of a guy honking his horn from the driveway. So basically, he was rude. Whatever. I'm far from expecting anything logical from the guy right about now. Without a chance to say goodbye to the Lees, I was whisked away to the ship again.

Not that I minded meeting back up with our resident 'Toss. I owed him a telling off. Charlie beamed me back up directly to the bridge, and I folded my arms the very instant the recall clouds receeded. He, still sitting in his chair at the console, greeted me with a dark frown. I couldn't help but notice he was wearing different clothes, and that the room smelled a little nicer than before. Ah, he must have cleaned up. Can't blame him for that, not after what he saw down in North Korea. Kinda wish I'd had a chance for a shower, but I wasn't going to use Cheonha's bathroom.

But all that's stuff I'm thinking about now that I'm writing this. At the moment, I just stared at Aldaris. I wasn't angry or anything, because I'd had enough time to get over it, but still, dude was really confusing. Why did he go down in front of all those North Koreans if he was so insistent on staying a secret from Earth?

"So Charlie," I said. "You wanna, you know, maybe explain some stuff? Maybe explain why I spent all that time warning you about potential consequences, and how like, you ignored it all?"

"You are not entitled to lecture me, human." Aldaris growled, refusing to look me in the eye. "I have rescued Cheonha's mother, just as you wished. Whatever obligation you feel you have towards me I have more than fulfilled."

I went around to the side of the console into a nearby chair so that I could be harder to ignore. "Just because you say something doesn't make it true. One, I have no idea what you're talking about with this 'obligations' stuff, and two, I get to lecture you as much as I want. You're the one who decided to teleport us down there. It's not half so much a betrayal of me as it is a betrayal of yourself. You're the one that wants to hide from humanity. What's got into you, anyway? I don't buy for a second that you just wanted to see North Korea in person."

He knew I was right, and his sideways glare in my direction as much as confirmed it. He turned away for a second, but then came right back with a renewed sense of confidence.

"I do not owe you an explanation." he said. "Do not expect one. Should you become insistent on the matter, it is simple enough to send you away.

After a second of awkward pausing, I suddenly understood. Thought I did, anyway. He's not afraid of humans, but what better way to get an ego boost than suddenly being surrounded by people who have every reason to be afraid of you? Sure, the North Koreans don't know that Aldaris is a powerful psychic, but who wouldn't be scared of a strange, vaguely gingerbread-man-ish giant with no face?

 _Or a third of a face, I guess, with the eyeballs..._ I looked up, receiving the dirty look I deserved.

"Does your tiny mind so quickly forget its vulnerability?" he snapped. "Put aside your childish musings and answer me clearly. In my misfortune, _you_ are my only source of speculation. Speak of the potential consequences to this night, if you can."

Heh, it's kinda funny how Aldaris thinks he can just yell at me and I'll just take it. Boy is he so arrogant. Yeah, I really do think he wanted some humans to think he's all big and bad for the sake of his ego. I'd bet money on it.

"Bethany..."

"Yes, I know you can read my mind, and at this particular moment, I don't care." I rubbed my face, so done with life. "Oh my gosh, Charlie, why did you have to go down there?"

"Because Cheonha was in danger. Her circumstance bore a certain resemblance to a situation in whch you found yourself in not long ago. You had little objection to my interference at that time."

"Y'know Charlie, you could have just _said_ that." I retorted. "May I remind you, I couldn't see what was going on. So okay, you had to save Cheonha. Cool. But did you really have to bring me too? Nobody down there knows who or what _you_ are, but an alien and a westerner together? That's only asking for trouble."

"Are you so foolish as to believe I would for one moment leave you unattended on my vessel?"

"Apparently, yes! Charlie, all you'd have to do is check my mind to make sure I didn't mess anything up! Or did you plan on erasing the memories of an entire village? Now that they've seen us together, there's going to be talk of weird American-monster alliances, just like they made up that whole bullcrap about us dropping diseased insects on them. Granted, that's kinda hilarious, but I didn't figure you shared my sense of humor. Not to mention it's bound to have consequences for my country that we have no way of predicting."

" _Try_ , then. What can I expect from this?"

I forced myself to calm down. I'm no dunce when it comes to people; Aldaris' anger wouldn't be half so strong if he didn't feel like this wasn't his fault. And here I go, rubbing in his mistake (mistake...was that what it was?). Well, I'll be gentle with his precious, poor ego. It's not like being mad at him will change the past. Besides that, I'm not nearly so mad as plain astounded. I don't even understand what's going on right now.

"Uh, okay," I thought long and hard. "Well, the bad news is, the North Koreans are closest in allegiance to the Chinese, whom, might I add, have also had recent interactions with magically disappearing people. The good news is, on the Chinese side they didn't get our pictures, and I'd bet that they didn't tell their high up superiors about what happened."

"That is an assumption on your part." Aldaris said. "What is the likelihood of its accuracy?"

"That really depends on how much they told their superiors before we disappeared. If messages were sent, then there's no chance of it being swept under the rug. If they kept their mouths shut until after we were beamed out, then we're good. No sense in telling the authorities about things they can't explain."

"I am more concerned with the North Koreans."

"'Kay. Here's where things get bad. If they'd only seen the teleporting light in the village, then we could expect nothing worse than nonsensical rumors flying around. Unfortunately, because they saw an alien, _plus_ an American, _plus_ a missing local girl who's sudden reappearance coincides with said foreigners - not to mention her apparent association - we've got high chances of word getting out."

"As much I may guess on my own. From there what do you predict?"

"I don't know!" I threw up my hands in frustration. "For the time being, we're all out of their grip, so they can't do anything to us. What they will do is spread the word, which thankfully has limited believability. Best case scenario is that rumors stay entertaining rumors. Worst case scenario, North Korea talks to China and they start making plans to do something about the West. Most likely there'll be some form of paranoia and North Korea will start making threats about Western conspiracies."

"Have I anything to fear from them?"

"You're a great guy, Charlie. Y'know that?" I rolled my eyes. "Of course not. There's only going to be trouble for us earthlings. The only good news is that North Korea can barely so much as fire missiles at South Korea, and China's got business interests in avoiding unnecessary conflict. Though I can't help having some sort of nagging feeling that this isn't going to end in simple misinformation. All I can hope is that there isn't some sort of repercussions in Cheonha's village. I mean, _maybe_ nothing will happen, but someone's going to take the fall there, most likely."

"Oh."

For a second, Aldaris didn't say anything. He looked down a bit in apparent contemplation, and his brow furrowed. For a second there, I thought he might apologize. He didn't, though, and instead just leaned against his console in some kind of melancholy. Did he really feel that bad about putting humans in danger, or was I missing something? I went ahead and climbed into another chair near the console.

"It was not my wish," Aldaris solemnly said. "To interfere with the matters of mankind."

"Don't feel too rained on." I said. "It's basically impossible to do any good for a place like North Korea without doing something wrong. Anything given to them, like that food, for example, might benefit somebody. Or else it might get someone arrested, or beat up if someone steals it from them. Heck, when the Koreas finally unite, it's gonna be a whole economic mess, ya don't even know."

"Surely I do not. For I can recall no period in Protoss history analogous to this." Aldaris shook his head. "What fascinating folly you humans are capable of."

Is there no anti-human dig too easy for Aldaris? I was going to make some kind of smart remark about the whole Khalai/Dark Templar thing, but I decided against it. If anything, communism certainly is fascinating folly - it's not like I haven't read two tons of books on the matter. Kinda fascinating too how people act like communism is gone forever. It's a cycle of endless interest. Hey, stop judging me. Some people read about zombies, but I prefer the reality's horrors.

"Y'know, Charlie," I scooted up further in the seat. "Drama like this is the exact thing you must have been hoping to avoid when you said you weren't going to save Cheonha's mother. So why this? Why did you change your mind?"

He had to have known it was coming, but when I asked the question, Aldaris visibly winced. Then he got all "angry eyes", like he does whenever I talk about a topic he doesn't like. Aldaris tried to answer me, I think. He looked away for several seconds, twitching his hands as if they were going to conjure something that would make me stop wondering.

"Must I explain my every action to you?" he finally said.

"No." I answered quietly. "But it would be nice if you would think things through a little more. Your actions affect more people than just you. It's not like I have to tell you that. You know. Seriously, what's going on? If being stuck up here in this flying box is starting to get to you, don't worry about it anymore. You don't have to tell the whole planet you're here. I'll talk to my government, and we'll set you up a place where you can at least get some real sunlight, like a private island or whatever-"

Aldaris suddenly sat very straight in his chair, and at once his old, confident nature reasserted itself. All the vulnerability exposed by his mistake instantly vanished. He must have been feeling better, because instead of sour glares I got the full force of his disdainful, nobleman's stare. Aw, I like vulnerable Aldaris. Too bad for me, as it was invulnerable Aldaris that stood up impatiently from his chair.

"I see now it is pointless to speak with you further. Has it not been from the beginning that your every effort was to convince me to show my presence? In your naivety you seemed to hope I might undertake such a foolish action, and thus risk the theft of my race's technology."

"Charlie!" I exclaimed. "Read my dang mind! Do you really think I give a single flying rat crap for your technology?"

"...How may I answer so squalid a metaphor?" Aldaris rolled his eyes and turned away. "Whatever motivates you is unknowable. Nor can I assume so pure a motive of anyone on Earth. It is simply a matter of statistics; the greater number your kind know of it, the greater likelihood there will be of a personage of unsavory impulses attempting the theft of what I have. Surely you realize this on you own, and have no need of my counsel on the matter."

"Okay, fine, whatever. All I'm saying is, it's not the Terran Dominion down there."

"It matters not. Protecting this vessel is a responsibility that I do not intend to fail."

"Says the person that randomly teleported down to North Korea for the heck of it."

Aldaris turned sharply in my direction. "Does it amuse you to anger me?"

I thought about it a second, and then nodded. "Yeah, a little."

The Protoss just rubbed his eyes in frustration and wandered over to the console. "I am beyond exhausted of your inanity. Prepare yourself for return." He paused, his hands hovering over the teleporter controls. "Oh yes, when we were on the surface, what was it that you told the Koreans?"

"That? Oh, nothing much." I blushed. "Well, they were being threatening, so I wanted them to think you're all big and bad or whatever. I said, 'don't make jokes. This person is Sun Yushik, so be respectful.'"

"...Sun Yushik?"

"Your Korean name. Congrats." I shrugged. "It seemed like a really bad idea to tell them your real name, so I just made something up on the fly. 'Yushik' means well educated or well learned. I picked 'Sun', as in, _the_ sun, as in not from Earth. I was going to pick something normal, but all the Korean last names are from like, ancient heroes and stuff. Naming you something like that probably would've been weird."

"And you claim not to have planned this?"

"It's the truth. I just saw 'yushik' in my dictionary the other day, so it's the first thing that came to mind. Though I suppose I could have named you 'theater' or 'bureau director' just as easily. They're only one stroke apart."

"I also have no interest in the Korean language." Aldaris rolled his eyes and continued to input on the computer. "When you return, remember to take some sort of medication. Certainly you've been exposed to some illness."

"Pfft. God'll protect me. If I'm too afraid of getting sick to help anyone, then I deserve to be sick." I said. "So...do you like your Korean name? Even a little bit?"

If you'd believe it, Aldaris actually chuckled. "It is sufficient."

And then I was home, standing in the mess of my half-packed living room, returning to the unfortunate reality that dealing with misadventures on the other side of the world aren't my every day life. I sighed. Then walked completely away from the mess and went to the computer to putter around.

Normally I wouldn't write here about just puttering, but then something happened. Toby was actually online. I went ahead and told him about everything that happened, and he noticed something that I missed. Here, I'll just copy and paste the texts.

 **Toby** : so you teleported to aldaris' ship, you and cheonha teleported to the store, then back, then she went to nk, then you and charlie went to nk, then all three and ch's mom back, then three of you to ch's place, then you back to the ship, then back home.

that's 17 teleports. remember when four teleports meant we had to camp out all night?

 **Bethany** : Yeah...holy crap.

 **Toby** : that means that the teleporter is more powerful than he says it is.

he lied.

 **Bethany** : But why?

 **Toby** : idk. maybe he wants us to think his technology is weak so we don't steal it.

I talked to Toby for a long while after that, and he says he wishes he'd been there with us. I told him that if I knew Aldaris was going to lose his head and send us both down there, then I definitely would have gotten him to come too. Oh well, at least after all this trouble, Cheonha's mom is home. I just hope that there's no serious repercussions for all this.

Yeah, that's a dumb hope.


	14. On the Verge

**Everything is complete. The Korean mother and child are united, and I know of no other tasks to which I might be held accountable on Earth. Already I have lingered here long without purpose; I know not why the gods should send me to so foul a place. Unless I have missed the calling of their will, this has proved a futile endeavor, one which can have no bearing on the world to which I so desire to return. Perhap the gods desired that I should aid Cheonha, that doing so somehow aids the Protoss...an errant fantasy, no doubt. Toby yet insists that this is an "alternate universe" to the "Starcraft world", and whether that is true I cannot say.**

 **Yet I remain. No one has answered my call. The power cells remain far short of what I need to escape this system, much less this "alternate universe", if truly it is one.**

...

Aldaris lowered his hands from the computer console. Every so often he found himself adding entries to his computer log, simply out of habit. There wasn't any point, of course, because he couldn't go home, and so no one would ever read it. But he just couldn't help it. There was no one to talk to about the secret things going on in his heart, especially not those four humans. They would probably react poorly if they found out what he intended.

 _Not John, certainly._ Aldaris mused without offense. _He will not show concern over my downfall. Indeed, he of the four is most likely to see its wisdom._

Destroying his ship wasn't going to be a hasty process. Aldaris couldn't rush it. His first impulse was to simply blow the ship up, then allow Earth's atmosphere to disintegrate the rest. But even assuming the ship was destroyed beyond salvaging anything important, it would immediately signal that _something_ was happening, even if the technologically backwards humans didn't know what. Not to mention it was fairly likely that something might survive both the blast and Earth's atmosphere. It was far better to destroy a little at a time, the riskier documents and technologies first. As much as the humans couldn't read aiuran, there wasn't the slightest reason to give them the chance. Aldaris grudged the loss of each thing, because the more he destroyed, the less there would be of comforts before the end.

And in the meanwhile, Aldaris couldn't destroy anything important until he could figure out the best method for destroying his ship. Naive Bethany proved useful, as always. She had, without the slightest caution, directly answered his questions about space. The nearest planets to Earth bore the uncouth names of Mars and Venus. Mars was immediately dismissed, because according to his source it was nothing more than barren, red rock and was already subject to human investigation. Aldaris had already heard of Venus - it rhyming with certain unfortunate words in the english language, and Raynor's followers not always being men of highest decorum.

But what those limericks didn't mention was that Venus was an orb of acid rain, not much use to human scientists or settlers. Bethany quite unsuspiciously told him this, also bothering to give him a long, useless diatribe on some book called Perelandra, a fantasy written about the planet before humans knew anything about the planet. How the girl did like to ramble! But Aldaris hadn't interrupted. Bethany tended to give better information when she was allowed to talk as she willed, though her trailing thoughts did require direction from time to time.

Now all that remained was to calculate how much time it would take to get to Venus, and if he could direct the ship to go there - Aldaris was a politician, not a space explorer. He'd never flown the _Juniadros_ from planet to planet, other than when he helped bring Aiuran exiles to Shakuras, and that was with the help of an interplanetary teleporter. But Aldaris knew the principles of space travel, and he thought could figure it out.

Still, his ship's main fuel supply was very low, and solar power wasn't going to get him anywhere in a hurry. At best it seemed he would have to simply plan out a trip to Venus, allow the principles of space travel to take all necessary time to get there, and die himself along the way. That was the most disappointing part of the plan. Aldaris had hoped to die instantaneously in the explosion of his ship, but he couldn't use his ship to end his own life without altering its trajectory. In the end, he was going to have to find some other means of ending it all. Allowing his inparsynthesis to slowly starve him to death wasn't the most efficient way, but it was the simplest choice. He couldn't exactly ask Bethany about Earth poisons without raising even her sluggish suspicions.

But it had to be done. He couldn't go home, and he couldn't stay. That left Aldaris with only the tedious task of making sure everything he had was destroyed beyond the abilities human investigation. It was logical to start with the useless things first, the things he wouldn't need to steer the _Juniadros_ into a great orb of acid. He wandered into the lounge, pulling open the storage cabinets and sorting through his papers.

They weren't business papers. Anything from Aldaris' days as Doyen of the Assemblage had already been long since thrown away, as there was no room for it once exile to Shakuras had been decided on, except for perhaps some documents that were hidden in forgotten places in the shuffle. But alas, no, none of that was his real worry. Alas for his own work, which was tucked in carefully sorted folders, large and small according to their kind. Aldaris lifted one of the larger folders and lay it on the table, gently pulling out a couple of the papers inside.

They were his drawings, and not mere artistic expression, either. Aldaris didn't flatter himself much in the way of artistic creation, but at the least he could turn his memories into pictures. Many drawings were of important places in Aiur, both in public honor and personal sentiment. Some were of great monuments. Many were just landscapes of Aiur's countrysides and beaches. Several were depictions of the great temple on Aiur, standing no longer except on that humble page. The one which he'd worked on in Cheonha's company still wasn't finished.

Technically, Aldaris didn't need these things. Drawings weren't going to help him get home, and they wouldn't help him destroy the _Juniadros_. But they were his memories - his people's memories, of things and places both destroyed and rendered unrecognizable by the coming of the swarm. So many had died, those who had known Aiur best and at its best. If he destroyed these drawings, they could never be replaced.

 _But where will they go? To the humans?_ Aldaris bitterly dropped the page in his hand. _Shall_ _ **they**_ _keep the memories of Aiur the Ancient, heir of the Xel'Naga?_

Aldaris lowered his face into his hands. He could destroy his ship, his beautiful ship that had saved the lives of so many. He could kill himself, or at least damage himself to the point where no one could bring him back. But he could not destroy these pictures. He just couldn't. Still, knowing that he had to, Aldaris' hands slowly reached for the top of a page depicting the temple on Aiur. It was his favorite picture, and if only he could produce one long, irreversible tear, then he could produce another, then another, and then finally have the will to destroy his entire work, drawing by drawing. It was only the first that was difficult. Aldaris held the edge of the paper with both hands, staring and waiting for the moment when he would finally have the courage to begin.

Blue swirls saved him. Despite the fact that Aldaris could never get the stupid recall unit to stop teleporting people at random, it at least now kept the humans from teleporting anywhere besides his ship's lounge. Still, they had stopped him from committing a great horror, so it wasn't with complete disappointment that Aldaris watched the humans appear.

It was Cheonha, as well as her mother. Aldaris inwardly cringed. Not only was the recall unit _still_ not working, but apparently it had found another subject to constantly teleport for no reason. But Aldaris hid his annoyance. Cheonha's mother's face instantly brightened the moment she saw him, like a child seeing her father after a long absence. Her eyes watered just slightly, and how could the Protoss marr a joy like that, recall mishaps or no?

For another thing, the woman looked much better. Granted, she'd only been outside of North Korea for a week. But she was standing, and despite the worried look on Cheonha's face, her mother stood with only the help of her daughter's arm. Maybe it was Aldaris' imagination, but her cheeks seemed a little more full as well. He didn't have much time to just look. Once Cheonha's mother saw him, she immediately stepped forward, then fell to her knees.

" _Aldarisu sansangneem..._ "

The woman said other things too, all in korean. But her voice, frail as it was, said enough without needing Aldaris to catch the specifics. She really did cry, then, and she bowed to him, lowering her forehead all the way to the floor. As she rose she turned to her daughter, and with astonishing ease took on a commanding tone.

"Cheonha!" she gestured to the floor at her side.

"Omma-ni..."

No words, only a firm hand pointing down. Cheonha immediately knelt beside her mother, and they both bowed low to Aldaris, three times in all. Aldaris lost himself. Whatever humilating emotion crushed him not ten minutes ago entirely vanished. Pride took hold of him, and he graciously considered the humans below.

 _Of course they are grateful to me._ Aldaris rose from his chair, feeling lighter than a helium balloon. _At least in all my toils I have this comfort, that I have blessed the lives of these unfortunate creatures._

Aldaris went to the two women and crouched a bit, gesturing for them to rise. He spoke first to Cheonha's mother.

"Madame," he said, most graciously. "You have no need to bow. Please rise and live well, for that is enough."

As the Koreans rose again to their feet, Aldaris straightened and considered these options. As much as he liked Cheonha, he wasn't certain how much he liked dealing with humans that didn't speak english well. Probably the recall unit had enough energy left to transport them. Which meant bringing them both to the bridge. Despite Cheonha's mother probably having no knowledge of modern technology, Aldaris felt iffy allowing another human access to his ship.

But thinking is quicker than reading, and before Aldaris could have much of an internal debate, Cheonha's mother started saying things again. Aldaris blinked and turned to Cheonha.

"Omma-ni," Cheonha tried to explain. "Mother has request...one request. For a meeting."

Aldaris winced again, almost visibly this time. He wasn't well learned in human colloquialisms, but he did know "engrish." And he knew he'd much rather be drawing with Cheonha than having to deal with it.

-t-

Nggh. Moving is crap.

So my dad found me a place to live. He's a real estate agent, so he has connections. Seriously, if you're a young person who needs somewhere cheap to live, go find an agent. Unfortunately for me, due to my status as looking for another job (as opposed to _having_ another job), I don't have the money to get a good place. Well, it is just me - no husband, childen, or pets.

Anyway, I've now got a tiny little apartment. It's not only the first floor of a small, concrete block house, it's also invisible to the street until you pull into the driveway of the house in front. It's this little two story with one apartment atop the other - I have the bottom one - which, when counted with the normal house in front of us, is the left side of a little enclave. A patch of parking area separates my "carriage house" (apparently that's what you call it) from the other carriage house on the other side. Two normal houses and a third that's been separated into apartments line along the street on the front, and a large wooden fence blocks us from the the rear. All in all, it's a nice little area. I call it Bag End, just to be cute.

Cute, however, does not describe my money situation. I have enough money to get through this month, and if I'm really careful, I'll have enough money for next month's rent - but not food. And all of that is assuming that I don't get the gas turned on. Oh, by the way, guess what powers the stove? So between cooking chicken in an electric donut griddle and mopping the floor with a broom, I think I've got this household thing figured out. Good thing I've watched a lot of Cutthroat Kitchen.

Huh, I should get one of my friends to move into the tiny apartment upstairs. That would be cool.

So I'm sitting in my apartment now, looking at the stuff I managed to get over here. The landscape painting from China lies now atop the half of my bookcase that survived the move ($30 bookcase, you see). Once the donut maker is done with my chicken, I'm going to watch some of the Project Runway I downloaded onto my computer previously (no internet now!) and then clean my bathroom. Then I have to juggle how I'm going to handle tomorrow. I have to get all pretty and make an appearance at the bank, so that I look hirable, and then get what little food I can afford at Wally-world and somehow get my coffeemaker back from work.

With all of this going on, I think of Aldaris' money. It's not a lot, but it would keep me for at least four months. I'm not going to take it, though. Dude is an alien in a world not his own, and I'm not going to take what's his. I mean, sure, the money appeared randomly on his ship when he arrived because of his messed up teleporter, so we don't know who the money really belongs to. Still, when you find a bunch of cash in a suitcase, chances are it doesn't belong to somebody involved only in legal activities. So I don't feel that bad about Aldaris having it.

In any case, I'm planning on transferring the money to Statkus. I've converted it all into dollars (it was originally in _won_ ) and it'll just be easier to send it to the other American of us four conspirators. I'm not spending money that isn't mine, and you never know what an alien might need it for.

Bah, I get too easily distracted these days. No longer thinking about anything besides dealing with stress, I turned to my cryptogram book. Man, I love those things. I'm getting real good at them too. Fine, fine, I know this is supposed to be a journal of me hanging out with my best good buddy Aldaris (don't tell him I said that!), but really, the cryptogram thing is relevant. That's what I was working on when Aldy contacted me again.

"Bethany."

"Oh hey, Charlie." I kept working on the cryptogram while I spoke. " _Wie gehts, wie stehts?_ "

More than likely Aldaris doesn't know german, but he either ignored it or figured it out by sentiment. "Bethany, I would appreciate if you had told me before you changed residence."

"Buh? You aren't my dad."

"By the grace of the gods, yes, but if I had known, I would not have spent several minutes wondering if some misfortune had taken you."

Ugh, he's probably referring to that time...that time I'd still rather not talk about. I scribbled more letters onto the puzzle so that I could dodge the awkward. "Uh, _anyway_ , anything interesting happen?"

"Something you might find of interest, yes. Cheonha's mother has requested to meet with everyone. Cheonha seems to have told her everything, but I question how much the woman understands. She seems confused, and part of her believes she has died and gone to some strange paradise."

"That's adorable." I chuckled. "Oh, and her name is Lee Suha. Cheonha emailed us about Suha wanting to see everyone, but I didn't think you would go along with it."

"Ordinarily this assumption would be correct. I have, however, an announcement to make."

"Oh? What about?"

"You will know soon enough. Thursday I will retrieve you, if this is acceptable."

Huh, Aldaris knew the days of the week, did he? Impressive.

"Cool, that's my day off, anyway. I was going to spend it getting this place cleaned up, but nah." I glanced at my puzzle again. I was almost finished with it. Feels good to know I can manage to do something right.

"What is that?" Aldaris asked.

"'S a cryptogram." I answered, tapping the page with my mechanical pencil. "Basically, they take a quote from some famous schmuck, then replace every letter with a different letter. And I'm supposed to figure out what the letters are really supposed to be, based on how they're arranged. This right here is a quote by Henry David Thoreau, some poet from back in the day that people say is classic or whatever. I'm a bit dubious, though, because they also say The Great Gatsby is 'classic'. Ugh, don't ever read that book. It's depressing crap, which is even worse than regular crap. Oh cool, I think I've figured it out..."

I wrote in the last few letters. This one wasn't a hard puzzle, especially since the puzzle had an apostrophe in it. Since this was a cryptogram book full of famous philosophers and writers from a long time ago, none of them use contractions. That meant that this time C meant S, and from there it had been easy.

"'To maintain one's self on this Earth is not a hardship, but a pastime if we live simply and wisely'." I read. "Uh, okay."

Judging from the negativity that wasn't mine, I figured Aldaris didn't like this quote. "What does that mean?"

"Um," I scratched my head. "I'm not really sure. Thoreau was one of those guys who was all about like, living in the woods and stuff. He did it himself for some years. Or was it Ralph Waldo Emerson? I'm forever getting those two mixed up. Eh, retro hipsters always say weird things."

"Perhaps." Aldaris said, though I'd be shocked if he knew (or cared) what a hipster was.

"Oh hey, Charlie, how come you didn't bring me back to read some more with you? I thought you wanted to improve your written english."

"...That is of no concern at this time."

"Huh?"

"We will meet again on Thursday."

"...Uh, 'kay, see you then."

The wandering orb of negative emotion left my brain, and I let out a sigh of relief. Y'know, Charlie's cool and all, but he's really a downer, and with all the crap that's going on in my life right now, I can't really handle that. Ugh. Even though he didn't say all that much, I'm now suddenly more stressed out than before. I need to check on my chicken, and then I'm doing another cryptogram. On a whim, I looked back down at my puzzle book.

"Maintaining oneself here on earth isn't a hardship, eh?" I chuckled. "I'm not sure my dear _ch'ingu_ Aldaris would agree with that."

Yeah, I don't expect Aldaris' announcement will have anything to do with staying down here on Earth. Oh well. I'll see what it is then. Well, if you'll excuse me, my Asian chicken smells good, so that must mean it's done. Chow time.

I feel weird, though. About everything.

\\\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

\- As it so happens, I do know some preferable ways to die. Cleopatra ended a lot of slaves' lives for the sake of finding a way to die that was both painless and left behind a good-looking body. Apparently, an asp's bite does the trick. It's very difficult for me to understand why anyone would admire a woman like this. Personally, if I had my choice of death, it would be to die in space. Explosive decompression doesn't actually happen in space, because a person is just going from one atmosphere to none. A change of one atmosphere isn't going to make a person explode. Not that Aldaris would choose either way, because he doesn't want to leave a body behind.

\- The Assemblage is a group of upcoming Judicator who work more closely with the Templar than the Conclave does. They tend to oversee specific Templar missions, much in the way Aldaris was in charge of Tassadar's mission in destroying the infested human planets. Being the Assemblage's Doyen, or elder, is something of an advantage and a disadvantage politically. As Doyen, Aldaris is both the leading voice of the Assemblage and its highest ranking member.

However, having this position delayed Aldaris' entry into the Conclave, to the point where he had no chance to enter it before its destruction. He personally suspects he was given the position by the political opponents of his father, as a way of keeping him outside. However, Aldaris, trusting the Conclave, accepted his position without complaint and indeed enjoyed remaining closer to those that do the Protoss' outside tasks, so that he could gain more experience before his expected ascension to the Conclave.

With the events of Starcraft, Aldaris' position ended up saving his life, as he wasn't there when the Conclave was destroyed. As Doyen, he was both the highest ranking surviving Protoss leader, and also an outsider to the Conclave, an advantage in the eyes of the Dark Templar.

"Doyen" is an informal title, and while it technically made Aldaris head of the Assemblage, the Assemblage always had a fairly loose hierarchy, as they existed primarily to carry out Conclave directives rather than their own purposes. Aldaris couldn't actually tell the Assemblage to do anything without the Conclave's backing, though he was responsible for some aspects of organization and could give official opinions on the actions of the others in the Assemblage whenever he wanted. Aldaris is rarely referred to as "Doyen" outside of official documents.

\- "Wie gehts, wie stehts" is a german greeting that means something like "what's going on?" I can't remember specifically what it means, but it's basically that.

\- _Ch'ingu_ means friend in korean.


	15. Kensley's House

Thursday! They day we all gather together for the first time since being stranded in China...oh wait, Cheonha and Suha weren't there. Uh...lemme think. Wow, the original four of us hadn't been all the in the same place since that very first day, when Aldaris had us all trapped in the back storage room of his spaceship. No wait, we all hung out once in the observatory that day when we found that hamster, yeah.

In any case, we were together again, this time with Lee Suha, all at the Kensley house. Specifically, we were in the back yard, having a nice cookout. Suha was the one who wanted it, but apparently John somehow managed to be in charge of the grill. He's supposedly the best griller out of all of us, which makes sense because both Toby and Cheonha don't have yards to grill in, and I don't have a grill. Technically there's a public grill at the park down the road from my place, but I've never used it. People throw cigarette butts in there.

Well, John's manning the outdoor grill, and he managed to convince Suha to let him do it so that he could make her "a genuine American hamburger." That was cute enough to work, but was pretty surprising since I know for a fact they make children sing songs about killing Americans over in North Korea, and Suha would have been steeped in anti-American sentiment. Apparently not put off by that, Suha busied herself making other things in Kensley's kitchen. Nobody told her, I think, that the house doesn't belong to any of us. There's no real need to, I hope.

Honestly, it was a great afternoon. Between Suha's vegetables and John's burgers, dinner was delicious, if a bit unmatched between East and West. Aldaris, despite his upcoming announcement, spent that whole time away from us. He's been pretty melodramatic today, lost in his thoughts. Even when he teleported us out here, he said little and reacted little to anything we had to say. He's drifting about like an animal - not like some badger or fox looking for food, but a stately stork trying to find the best places to observe its surroundings. Then he just disappeared, leaving us in Kensley's back yard.

He didn't return to our group until dinner was over, and everyone was sitting in the faded light of dusk. Fortunately, Mr. Kensley had enough chairs for all of us. Me, John, and Toby all had lawn chairs, and we let the Lees take the outdoor sofa. Cheonha's got english pretty well figured out, for someone who hasn't been learning it very long. She translated as much as she could for her mother, who listened more than she spoke.

In any case, we were all having very lovely conversations about relatively normal things over our various drinks from Toby's cooler when Charlie came back. His chair was already set up in the yard, so he sat as we talked. Of course, since he was back, he was of course going to be included in the conversation.

"Charlie!" Toby said. "Don't keep us in suspense anymore. What's this all important announcement you were going to make?"

Aldaris, relaxed enough to ignore his human nickname, seemed vaguely amused. "If you are impatient, very well. There is no need for delay." he straightened in his chair before he spoke. "I have discovered a means of returning to, as you put it, the 'Starcraft universe'."

Us Westerners cheered, and Suha applauded politely until Cheonha finished translating into her ear. Then she clicked her tongue and said something that sounded a little sad - she said it too fast for korean noob me to catch.

"I know some of you are fond of me," Aldaris glanced at Suha in particular. "But it is high time I returned home. The issues Starcraft presented, as well as ones beyond its scope, call for my restoration."

"Cool." Statkus said, reaching in the cooler for another beer. "So how did you manage to figure it out?"

Aldaris shook his head. "Even if I were convinced you both understood the science concerned and required notice, the words necessary for explanation are beyond my english vocabulary, if indeed such words exist for processes that involve returning a 'fictitious' character to his own reality."

"Fair enough," Statkus shrugged. "Though I have to say this situation ended a lot more peaceably than I thought it would."

Toby laughed. "Yeah, you're the one that thought Aldaris was going to blow up the Earth when everything first happened."

"I don't know." Statkus leaned back in his chair. "Now that he's been here a while and nothing too exciting has happened, it's hard to imagine what he would have done that's so bad. I guessed I misjudged you. Sorry."

"Your misgivings were fully justified." Aldaris answered. "As I am foreign to you and potentially very dangerous, logically you should not have felt otherwise."

"Is that or is that not a snub against me and Toby?" I chuckled.

"But I should, shouldn't I?" Statkus answered, pointing towards the Koreans, who now seemed wrapped up in their own conversation. "After all, you did save the ladies."

"That's right," I chuckled. "Aldaris is such a nice guy."

"Enough of _that_ ," Aldaris rolled his eyes. "In any case, this shall also be the last night here, whatever else may come. Kensley will return in the next week."

"What?" Statkus asked. "How do you know that?"

Aldaris glanced sideways over at the suspicious human, answering delicately. "A neighbor spoke with him on the telephone two days ago."

"Ah yes, the good ol' moral vaguery of bumming the use of someone's house." I grinned. "As much fun as _that's_ been, I think I'd like to not be involved in any ethically questionable activities from this time forward."

"You must trouble yourself one more night." Aldaris replied. "I cannot return you until near morning, as the recall unit must recharge."

Toby cleared his throat and set down his beer beside his chair. "Now, that's funny. You didn't seem to worry much about saving power on the recall unit when you were getting Suha out of North Korea. I was talking about it with Bethany, and you teleported people 17 different times in fairly quick succession. So, why can't the recall unit work now?"

I raised an eyebrow - okay fine, both eyebrows. I can't do the one eyebrow thing. So, Toby was going to call him out on the teleporter issue, was he? Well, I'm all ears.

Aldaris gave me a glance before he answered, "I now am fully certain of my ability to return to the Koprullu Sector. Shall I not preserve my vessel's power for this purpose?"

"Sure, but, why weren't you careful before?"

"It was...necessary." Was it just me, or was Aldaris stumbling a bit over his explanation? "If you have discussed this with Bethany, you already know of North Korea's dangers."

"Oh, um," Toby looked at me. "Alright, I suppose."

Yeah, well even without telepathy, me and Toby could sense each other's doubt. I decided not to bug Aldaris about it, though.

"Y'know, Charlie," I yawned. "You could've warned us we were having another sleepover at Kensley's."

"He did warn me," Statkus said. "He probably warned you too, and you just forgot."

"Haha, very funny, shut your face."

"... Now I feel sad. Hanging out with you guys has been awesome!" Toby exclaimed. "It makes me wish I'd played Starcraft when I was growing up. I mean, I got to meet an alien, and to go out in space!"

"And I got to swim with my favorite sharks!" I added.

"We all got to have misadventures in China." Statkus grinned and rubbed his head, where only the faintest mark remained of his adventure-gained scar. "Though that wasn't the most, uh, comfortable situation."

"And I still have a Chinese internet friend because of that." Toby rejoined. "I'm happy for you that you're going home, of course, but these past six months have been the most fun I've ever had in my life. I can't believe it's all going to come to an end. I'm going to miss you, Aldaris."

I raised my Coke can. "To our dear _companion_ , Aldaris! To his safe return to the K Sector! And may his adventures continually grow ever more inexplicable!"

"To Aldaris!" the guys lifted their beers, grinning wide.

Cheonha snickered, until Omma gave her a stern look. Aldaris, on the other hand, looked at me like I'd grown a third eye.

"Why, my dear, dear Aldaris," I said. "Why are you offended? It's just a line in a game, no? You didn't _really_ get on Tassadar's case for having a human friend, did you?"

Aldaris said nothing, but rolled his eyes and looked away. Toby snorted and wiped some beer from his lips before speaking.

"That proves it!" he pointed at Aldaris. "He really did say it! Haha!"

"Guess that makes you a hypocrite then." Statkus grinned Aldaris like it was going to be illegal tomorrow. "Dear _friend_."

"You may say that as often as you like," Aldaris kept his tone under control. "But it shall not prove true. I merely pity you, and must tolerate your presence until my departure."

"'S cool, Charlie, 's cool." I said. "Sorry, it's just that your insult is probably my favorite line in all of Starcraft. I'd have to look again to be sure, but it's up there."

"For what reason?"

I shrugged. "I'm a writer. At all times I have to be open to a certain degree to alternate opinions and feelings, or else my characters, particularly the ones not like me, will always be flat. Besides, it's the hallmark of a good writer to show as much meaning in as few words as possible. Your insult speaks volumes about your character's feelings on humans, traditions, your subordinates, tons of things like that. It says this more efficiently than an essay on your nature ever would."

"If we're talking about favorite lines," Toby added. "I think I like best the part where Mengsk says he'd rather rule Korhal or see it burnt to ashes around him. When he said that line, oooh! That gave me the creeps!"

"I know!" I exclaimed. "Mengsk was such a great character! And then Blizz goes and says, 'his story has already been told.' Yeah, _no_. Man, I always wanted to see him do something really, really crazy. Something that would make everyone else in the K Sector lose their minds." Given that Aldaris was looking at me funny, I relented. "Uh, well, of course, that's only when thinking of him as a fictitious character. As a real person, not...so...oh no, noooo...guys, why?" I turned back to Aldaris and pointed at John and Toby. "I had nothing to do with this."

I really didn't, and buried my face in my hands so that I wouldn't see the horror. At some point, the guys apparently decided that they wanted to bring along some Latvian beer. I peeked through my fingers. No, my eyes weren't tricking me. On each label, in pretty cursive, was the name "Aldaris." The boys quite helpfully held their bottles above or below the label.

Apparently Aldaris knows his own name with Roman letters. He sat forward in his chair, and all the color bleached out of his eyes. " _What madness is this_?!"

"We-eell..." Toby said. "As it turns out, in Latvian, 'Aldaris' means 'brewmaster.' And it's a beer company."

"What?!"

"It's true." Statkus said, his attempt at laughter dying from the radiation of Aldaris' anger. "There's a beer with your name. We're...uh, not making it up."

Aldaris stared at the bottles and at the guys as if the universe had unwound before him. "You... _human_...this...impossible!"

Too stunned and angry to do anything, Aldaris dropped his face into his hands. The guys squirmed uncomfortably at their ruined joke.

"You guys are jerks. You broke Charlie!" I said. "Dude coulda lived his whole life without knowing about that."

"And you knew of this?"

Aw, great, Charlie's wrath was directed at me. I winced. "Yeah, but I wasn't going to say anything. Relax, it's a coincidence. Like how the sound _ku_ means 'cow' in german, 'dog' in gaelic, 'rebellion' in french, and 'nine' in korean. Huge coincidence. ...If it makes you feel any better, I read some reviews online, and I heard it's supposed to be good beer."

I earned a death glare on that one, and since Charlie's anger didn't face them any longer, apparently the boys felt safe enough to laugh. At this point, Cheonha figured out the unfamiliar letters and laughed as well. Suha clucked her tongue disapprovingly. She gestured over for one, and since Toby was sitting closer, he got out another beer and removed the cap for her. Suha tasted it, then shook her head and turned to Aldaris. She frowned and said something that involved the word _shiro_ , so clearly the meaning was something negative.

"Guess she doesn't like your beer, then." Toby snorted.

"To be fair, we did have to import it from Europe," Statkus said, taking a sip. "It's pretty flat by now."

"The Guinness company was supposed to have invented a widget that keeps beer longer." Toby added, glancing with mild disapproval at his own drink. "I guess Aldaris beer never caught on with it."

"I am only too glad to be gone from this mad place." Aldaris non-beer snarled. "The more I learn of Earth, the more I learn to despise it."

"Don't be so upset. You don't even have the most embarrassing name." I said. "Poor Artanis does. In elvish, his name means 'noble lady'."

Unfortunately, Aldaris didn't laugh. "Truly?"

"Oh yeah. In the Lord of the Rings universe, it's one of Galadriel's alternate names."

"What?" Toby asked. "Is that in the book? I don't remember reading that."

"They don't mention it in the trilogy, but if you read the Silmarillion, it's there."

"Ah," Toby nodded. "I only knew that 'Artanis' was 'Sinatra' spelled backwards."

"What is 'Sinatra'?" Aldaris asked.

"He's a jazz singer from the 1950s," Statkus answered. "He's considered to be one of the best singers of his time."

"That is preferable to alcohol, at least." Aldaris said. "I assume there are human meanings to the other Protoss names as well?"

"Some of them." Statkus said. "Fenix is the most obvious one. Too obvious, if you ask me."

"Not to a Protoss. Explain it, if you would."

"In human folklore," Toby explained. "A Phoenix is a bird that burns to death, then rises anew from its own ashes. It's spelled differently than Protoss Fenix, but it means the same thing."

"What is spelled the same way as Protoss Fenix is a name of a city in North Carolina. Not makin' that up, saw it on a map. But burgh," I muttered. "I never liked his name. From the viewpoint of someone writing Starcraft, it's clearly a bad pun on Fenix dying and then being put in the dragoon machine. The pun hurts me. It hurts me a lot."

Statkus came out of his thoughtful trance. "I think that's everybody. None of the other Protoss characters have names with obvious meanings."

"One of the Aldaris brand beers is called 'Zelta'." I said. "I always assumed 'Zeratul' was extrapolated from that."

"Oh yeah!" Toby snapped his fingers. "I saw that."

Aldaris facepalmed.

"Well..." Toby said, apparently starting to feel guilty. "Don't let it bother you. I mean, this is probably an alternate timeline, isn't it? There probably isn't an Aldaris beer on Starcraft Earth. Maybe not even a Latvia."

"There is almost certainly no Latvia," Aldaris said, lifting his face and blinking warily. "The United Earth Directorate was supposed to have 'promoted unity' by eliminating most national borders."

"What, really?"

"From what I am told. Though the Protoss know little of the UED, none of the humans I had met in the Koprullu Sector had anything pleasant to say about Earth's government."

"But you only met Raynor and his crew," Statkus piped up. "You probably got a skewed perspective."

"Yes, but I have no other source to draw upon." Aldaris leaned into the back of the chair. "The Protoss discovered little of the UED before my departure."

Out of nowhere, Kensley's dog appeared. I have no idea where that thing goes at night. Isn't it supposed to be with a neighbor, or something? Charlie must have sent out some kind of mental signal to it or something, because up it came. It sniffed us out and started to growl, but with one swift gesture from Aldaris, it cantered right over to him and hopped in his lap. With that, Aldaris ducked out of the conversation and started scratching the dog. Pfft. Those guys did have to ruin our last meeting with an alien from outer space with those stupid beers.

Statkus wiped his foamy grin as he worked on finishing his bottle. Clearly dude wasn't feeling all that bad about the whole name thing, and as he took his final swig, he turned again to the alien.

"So Charlie," he asked. "If I had something in my mouth and you read my mind, could you taste what I was tasting?"

"No," Aldaris retorted, his face wrinkling in disgust. "The Protoss brain cannot process such sensory information."

"That's too bad." Statkus glanced at his bottle and chuckled. "You'll never be able to know the taste of your own beer company."

"You're so bad." I shook my head with a laugh. "Just awful."

"Hey Bethany," Toby reached into the cooler. "We've got one more of these Aldaris beers left. You want one?"

"No, thank you. Nerd girl's not a drinker."

"Really? Why not?"

"I don't want to start." I answered, yawning as I watched the sun go down. "I've always suspected that I had an addictive personality, and it turns out that people with my personality type are very likely to abuse substances."

"What, really?"

"Oh yeah. INTPs apparently are number one in...uh, I can't remember if it's alcohol or drugs. Pretty sure we're number one so far as drinking to excess, and almost number one in drugs on a college campus. Something like that."

"That's Myers-Briggs, isn't it?" Statkus said. "Isn't all that fake?"

"No, some people just get overly angry at an underdeveloped, preference-based personality sorter."

"Oooh, this is like that Starcraft character thing, isn't it?" Toby leaned forward in his chair. "What personality am I?"

"Sorry, Toby," I said. "As it so happens, I'm really terrible at predicting people's Myers-Briggs' types. Every time I try, I get it wrong. Except I'm pretty Charlie here is an ESTJ. Normally I can't guess, but I was reading the description in my book, and it sounded like him."

"What it say?"

" _Forbear_." Aldaris commanded. "I am far from interested in any such preponderings. Needless to say it would be inaccurate in my case."

"Give it a chance before you say no. Actually, ESTJs are apparently the most successful personality type. ESTJs have a drive for cultural stability, and tend to fill any perceived leadership voids when they have a chance. But whenever they recognize that someone else is the real authority in a situation, and the authority is not an idiot or something, then the ESTJ defers to their leadership without ego."

"Y'know, that does sound like Aldaris." Toby nodded. "I can see that being real."

"I still cannot be certain it has any accuracy for Protoss. Whatever this 'Myers-Briggs' may be, it is a human system that can determine only the human."

"Dude, a personality test is about one's inner self. It has nothing to do with if a someone is psychic, or has hair or nerve cords, or something else entirely." I stared at my uplifted hand, wriggling my fingers about. I'd been contemplating things like this for years. "Protoss? Human? Those things are just clothes. They aren't who a person really is. What makes a person himself is the spirit within."

"And what, by your definition, is a spirit?"

"Well, somebody once said that a spirit is everything about a person that disappears when they die. Their personality, mindset...all the intangibles."

Aldaris said nothing to that, but casually stroked the dog's ears as he grew contemplative. He still didn't say anything, though. He seemed happy enough just petting the dog and thinking about things. Well, why not? I was feeling that way, too. The stars were starting to come out, and as me, Charlie, and Toby all got quiet, the quiet murmur of a conversation between the Lees and Statkus. It was pleasant, being out there in the quiet.

"Omma... _noraerul chom puruhseyo._ " Cheonha teasingly elbowed her mother in the side. "Omma..."

"Omma-ni _choa puruseyo_?" I said, with probably very bad grammar. "Omma-ni can sing?"

" _Ne,_ " Cheonha answered. "Omma is very good. She sang... _hakkyo-eh_ , ah, inschool, long ago."

"Oh really?" I turned to Suha. "Omma-ni, _puruhhashimsheeyo_! Please?"

"I think you should sing." John gave her a thumbs up. "Why not?"

"I'd love to hear it." Toby added. "Bethany, what did you say again?"

" _Puruhhashimsheeyo_?"

"Yes, that." Toby stuck out his bottom lip. " _Puruhhashimsheeyo_!"

Suha blushed, chuckling at us in a very motherly way. But she kept saying _ani_ , and then added something about _Aldarisu sansangneem_. Aldaris, I think, likes Suha better than he likes the rest of us. It makes sense, because she's the oldest, and the least doofus-y. Besides, he still had the dog in his lap, and I think animals must make him tolerate other people better. Humans, at least.

"Do not let my presence stop you," Aldaris said, very tolerantly as he contentedly stroked the dog's back. "By all means, Omma-ni."

Suha immediately started giggling, like she thought Aldaris was just the cutest thing. Cheonha also giggled, and blushed.

 _Charlie,_ I thought at him, grinning pretty wide myself. _'Omma-ni' means mother. Probably shouldn't call someone that who's younger than you._

It didn't bother Suha any, and it didn't seem that anyone who looked at Aldaris with those kinds of happy eyes would ever be offended by him. She just said something else, and took a deep breath to begin. I managed to catch what she said next; something about being too shy to sing with everyone looking at her.

"Omma!" Cheonha teased, hugging her mother's side.

" _Kwenchanna, kwenchanna_."

Suha wrapped her arm around her daughter's shoulder for a quick squeeze, then became for a moment lost in thought. She looked up into the sky, then began singing an unfamiliar song. It was a Korean folk song, and like a folk song from any country, it had a strange melody, one that didn't quite click with my Western ears. But it sounded like a song from a bygone era, something cheerful but a little sad. Maybe it was a love song, or something. It sounded exactly the way it feels to travel through space...or at least, how I think space travel would feel.

I don't know how long it lasted, but at some point, Suha stopped and we applauded. She blushed, but Cheonha hugged her and told her she did a good job. D'aww, I don't think I've ever seen Cheonha smile so much since I first met her. It made me extra sad to think how far we'd come since I first saw her timidly spy on me that first day we appeared on Aldaris' ship.

Speaking of the Protoss, I turned to find him looking at me, a bit amused. "If I recall correctly, we have another among us with a pleasant voice."

"Charlie, you are a lying liar that lies, and I won't have your nonsense," I retorted.

"Bethany!" Toby grinned. " _Puruhhashimsheeyo_!"

"How very dare you. And uh, that's in formal style. You shouldn't use formal style with me, because we're the same age, aren't we?"

"Uh, I'm twenty-seven."

"...A lady does not tell her age."

"So I can use formal style with you?"

"...Technically, yes. But don't."

Suha turned to me, and whatever she said, it was insistent. Cheonha translated for her.

"Omma says she wants to not sing alone. You sing too."

"Bah, I say, bah. ...Oh well, can't disobey Omma-ni."

Much to Suha's surprise, I sang a Korean song. It was Four Seasons, a song from Korea's industrial age that's about someone working in a factory all four seasons of the year, while life passes them by. Despite its cheerful tune, it's pretty melodramatic. Then, much to _my_ surprise, Suha joined in. For some reason, Cheonha didn't appear to know it, but Suha made everyone clap to the song anyway. Except Aldaris, who just listened.

That finished, and Suha laughed heartily, then started gesturing towards the guys, presumably to get them to sing something.

"Eh, no thanks," Statkus said, apparently getting her drift. "I'm not quite drunk enough, yet. I only sing when I'm drunk."

"I think I'll give it a go," Toby said. "Bethany, help me out. You know some Beatles songs, right?"

"Blech. In the interests of not starting an argument, I will remain silent on the topic of the Beatles." I chuckled. "But anyway, for some reason I'm only good at singing songs in foreign languages. I get too nervous on english ones."

"Do you know Celtic ones? There was this good one I learned over in Ireland..."

Aldaris suddenly sat up. "What did you say?"

"Huh? ...Oh! Ireland. Yes," Toby said. "That's a country next to England. Why do you...oh..."

Statkus started snickering.

"You mean to say there is a place called Aiur-land on Earth?" Aldaris turned to me. "Why did you not speak of this?"

"I didn't think about it." I shrugged. "But that's not its real name. Ireland is only what they call it in english. Technically it's the Republic of Eire."

"...You claimed that 'Aiur' meant 'air'."

"It does. In romanian. In english, 'ire' means something like 'wrath' or 'strife'. It's uh, not spelled the same way, though..."

Aldaris sank back into his chair, shaking his head. "Nevermind. Do not speak anymore of this. I have no wish to learn more Terran flummory, and upon my return I shall treat all of this as nothing more than a bad dream."

\\\\\\\

"Maybe that's for the best." Statkus nodded. "Kinda wish I could do the same."

"Omma says you are noisy," Cheonha said to John. "You sing now."

"Do I have to?"

"How come no one's asking me to sing?" Toby asked. "I've actually had training."

"By all means, take my turn." Statkus groaned and reached for his beer again. "Go. Hurry."

We sang some more after that. Out of all of us, Toby is definitely the best singer. Well, Cheonha wouldn't sing by herself, so technically I don't know that for sure. Technically. Despite Statkus being about average, he can do an excellent metal voice. Suha and Aldaris hated it, so he stopped, but I'm totally going to make him sing something later. Maybe I'll get him to go on Skype, or something. Toby would love that.

All the while we were singing, though, Aldaris was silent (except to tell Statkus to shut up with the metal voice), and he wasn't paying a lot of attention to us. I kinda figured he would get annoyed with our singing, but he never said anything at all.

Statkus was the first one to get tired. We were in his time zone, after all, and it was pretty late. Apparently he'd had work that morning, too. Suha was next. Between the singing and not quite being as healthy as she looked, Suha needed more rest. We let her and Cheonha have the bedroom. Huh, I just realized that nobody told Cheonha that this house didn't belong to any of us. Oh well, we'll just let her and her mom be the creepers that go sleep in a stranger's bed.

I think Toby got annoyed at all of us, because in his time zone of origin it was early morning. That meant he got stuck cleaning up. I helped, because I'm a night owl anyway, it was still around eight or so in my home town. Aldaris disappeared at about that time. It made me nervous, because I didn't know if he'd teleported away or walked off. Dude better be careful out here in the middle of the night.

-t-

Aldaris didn't like the dark. Some found it peaceful, but he preferred the daytime sky. Especially when his disorder left him feeling so weak.

 _Perhaps this time it is not inparsynthesis..._ Aldaris rubbed his shoulder. _I ache only with longing for Aiur._

He winced, remembering "Aiur-land." Not until that night had Aldaris ever put much faith in Toby's alternate universes theory, but now he hoped with all his heart that he'd simply fallen into a mad dimension with no connection whatsoever to his world, the real universe.

Aldaris gazed half indifferently at the house. The humans had long since gone inside. Most of them were asleep, leaving him outside to sit in the dark. The kitchen entrance had double doors, so he would only have to duck a little to get inside. That is, if he had any inclination to do so. Aldaris wasn't even slightly tempted to try and join them. Even if they weren't humans, Aldaris wanted to spend time alone. Still this evening hadn't been a terrible idea. The humans, nonsensical people that they were, did indeed appreciate what he'd done for them. It warmed his heart a little that he could at least do something that mattered while stuck here.

He gazed at the sky. _Dark thoughts are for dark times...which of these lights is Venus?_

Probably it was one of the brighter ones. Aldaris didn't bother guessing. He'd already scanned and located it on the computer. Since he was going to very shortly get a much, much closer look at the planet, he didn't much care to see it from this distance. Now that the night was in full force and peace claimed the yard, peace claimed the Protoss, too. His thoughts, inevitably, returned to ever shrinking remains of his life.

 _Why must I destroy my work? If I am to plummet myself amidst the acid waves, the work shall be done for me._

Aldaris recounted the trajectory numbers in his head. If all went well, the trip to Venus would take about 127 days, or something just over 144 Earth days. He'd run the math for his inparsynthesis in his younger years, but knowing that genetic conditions affected everyone differently, it was impossible to know how much of that time he would survive. It would be a lingering death, a painful one: slowly starving as the distant stars, unfiltered by an atmosphere, offered him only minimal sustinence. Yet who knew? He might even linger all the way to Venus, his faint but unconscious body ready to be eternally silenced by gravity and sulfuric nightmare.

Aldaris found himself suddenly far more interested in Earth poisons.

He knew she was coming outside. With everyone asleep, it wasn't difficult to sense the one active mind in the vicinity. It was Bethany, unfortunately. Aldaris didn't feel like putting up with her. For a few moments, he hoped that the human girl was just stirring and would try to sleep. But alas, her mind was wide awake, and she seemed anxious about something.

So it was only a matter of time until her face appeared in the glass doors. She pulled back the drapes and peeked out, spotting him.

"Return, Bethany," Aldaris said.

"In a minute." the girl opened the door. Pale in the moonlight, she paced over to him. "Oh, brrr, 's cold."

"If you returned inside, you would be warm," Aldaris said, not himself bothered by the tempurature.

"I just wanted to check on you." Bethany shivered. "I couldn't sleep, and whenever I can't sleep, usually something's wrong. Like, someone's in trouble or something. Everyone else seems okay, so I wanted to check on you."

"As you can see, I am well."

Bethany blinked. "Um, are you sure? I just can't shake this feeling that something's not right."

"More of your 'intuition'?" Aldaris asked. "I believe the more appropriate term is 'paranoia.' Now go. Your exhaustion dulls your wit."

The girl stood there, her forehead wrinkled in doubt. Aldaris turned away.

 _How annoying this girl is!_

It was a simple matter to transmit the anger he felt, creating around him a field of emotional repulsion. Aldaris didn't really want to do it, as Bethany's heart was fragile, easily hurt. But he also was dreadfully tired of those insufferable human creatures, and if casting a wrathful aura was what it took to make her go away, then so be it. He did at least restrain the full force of his irritation. Bethany didn't get upset. She just blinked, nodded, and wandered back to the house. She looked back, once, then entered back in. Aldaris only relaxed when she finally disappeared from sight.

Feeling vague and sick, Aldaris didn't want to move. But he also felt possessed by an obsession to get away from that stinking human building. He'd lied to the humans, and saying those lies made him sick.

 _I am not returning._ Aldaris felt his arms starting to shake. _Nor if I could, would I ever see Aiur as it was, as it was meant to be..._

He stood up. He wanted to be away from anything human, any last sign that he was on Earth. He walked into the darkness of night, letting it set the tone for his thoughts. The scattered trees blocked out any sign of humans, that this planet was Earth, and for the moment he could pretend he was anywhere else. Before he knew it, Aldaris was alone in the scattered trees.

He didn't care about anything here anymore. Only the home, the people, the ideals he loved so much. And they were all gone, stripped from him one by one, until all that remained were the memories in his head, soon to be cast away. Though he tried to resist, tears formed in Aldaris' eyes. He covered his face, but the tears escaped nonetheless.

 _No..._ Aldaris angrily swiped his hands over this face. _This madness shall not control me. I shall go to my death with my dignity intact. I shall not-_

"Freeze! Don't move!"

Aldaris, startled, turned to see an unfamiliar human. Some brown haired stranger held a rifle of some kind firmly in the alien's direction. Aldaris briefly checked his mind. Yes, this man was a neighbor, the one who was taking care of Kensley's dog. Aldaris didn't bother wondering why or how this person had appeared. He didn't care enough. He simply turned his face away and stared at the ground. He'd been a fool to let himself get caught.

 _Damn these foolish creatures! Can I not have the loneliness I seek?_

"Uh..." the human said. "Are you...are you okay? You lost, or something?"

Aldaris looked again, and saw that the human had gone soft. The rifle was down, and all hostility turned into a curiosity. And pity.

 _Yeah, he must be lost,_ the human thought, completely unaware Aldaris could hear him. Aloud, the man continued, "Look, uh, do you need to call your friends to come get you? ...Do you speak english...?"

There it was. Pity. Even this human who had never seen or heard of him before felt sorry for him. In disgust, Aldaris flicked his hand to his quorrian embelm and recalled back to his ship.

 _Let the humans remain,_ he spat as the walls of the _Juniadros_ formed around him. _I shall bother with them in the morning._

\\\\\\\\\

Author's notes:

\- As a reminder, Protoss count in base 8. So 127 Aiur days really means 86 Aiur days, and 144 Earth days means 100 Earth days. This means that Aiur's days are longer than Earth's (so sayeth my personal canon) as it takes fewer Aiur days to equal the same amount of Earth time. Confusing, no?

But that is an accurate statement about how long it takes to get to Venus. In 90 to 100 Earth days (depending on the orbit of the planets), our current technology can get us there. Aldaris does have superior technology, but due to having minimal power and wanting to avoid detection, he's reluctant to use his FTL engines.

Fun fact: Venus' days are longer than its years - it takes longer for Venus to spin on its axis than it does to orbit the sun.

\- _Shiro_ means to not want something. _Puruhhashimsheeyo_ is the formal way to respectfully tell someone to sing. The - _hashimsheeyo_ suffix should only be used with those who are deserving of a special amount of respect, like elder family members, company presidents, and important political powers. Technically Cheonha doesn't have to be too formal with her mom, but she wants to be. That, and I still have trouble getting formal, polite, and informal styles correct, so I'm going to err on the side of formal or polite.

Oh, and _norae_ means song. Again, because I'm sure I've mentioned it before, _-rul_ is the object particle, to be used whenever you're talking about something. It gets attached to the object of the sentence. In "I gave him a book", _-rul_ would attach to "book." Well, actually _-ul_ , because _ch'ek_ (book) ends in a consonant. Nouns with vowel endings get _-rul_.


	16. In Korea

Cheonha couldn't be happier, and she couldn't hide it. Things were going too well. She and her mother were together again, in a place where they could spend the rest of their lives in peace. Where before Seoul had seemed crowded, noisy, and overwhelming, it was now cheerful, friendly, and convenient. After all, the Namdaemon street market was just around the corner, and even though the tangled roads of the area were confusing, Cheonha felt used to it. So as she hauled her bags of fruit and vegetables home, she felt only happy. Sure, it would be sad when Aldaris left, but she still had her foreign friends, and she was good at learning english.

 _Better than Bethany is at learning korean,_ she thought, haughtily. _Ah, I wonder if it will rain this afternoon. Let it! Omma and I will stay in and watch TV. That drama we like is playing tonight._

"Cheonha, _annyong_!" Choi Eunha, appearing from some side street, approached and held out her arms. "Can I help you with that?"

"Um, no, I think I have everything," Cheonha said. "I only have three bags. It's not that heavy."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes, don't trouble yourself." Cheonha laughed happily. "Did I tell you? My mother is home now."

"Wow, congratulations! That's wonderful!" Was it just her imagination that Eunha's voice took on a tone of doubt? "But how long has she been with you?"

"Since the day before yesterday," Cheonha lied. "I told you that I was working with an agent to get her out of North Korea, yes?"

"You did...it's just...that was really fast!" Eunha said. "You must have a very good agent. Expensive, too."

"Yes, but I have been saving money. Charlie was worth every penny, though!"

"Charlie?"

"Yes, that's what we call my agent." The side street was never one much for traffic, but Cheonha always looked both ways before she crossed anyway. "I can't tell you about him because that's against the rules, but he's the best!"

"If...if, for the sake of argument..." Eunha stammered, choosing her words carefully. "If I had someone that I wanted to bring down from the north, could this Charlie help?"

"I wish you'd told me sooner!" Cheonha gasped. "Eunha, you must always tell me these things! Charlie's going to retire soon. I don't know if he will find anyone again."

"Are you sure you can't speak to him?" Eunha paused as they both dodged a street vendor's cart. She whispered again once they passed it. "Surely still have payments to make. Can't you tell him that I need some help, too?"

"I...I don't know. Charlie's going back to...to Ireland, I think. He really wants to go home, so I don't know." Cheonha bit her lip, thinking intently. "I think maybe what I can do is have him talk to one of his friends. Maybe he knows another agent who can help you."

"Really? That would be great!" Eunha dropped her conspiratorial tones and relaxed. "Cheonha, when am I going to meet your mother? I want to see her!"

Cheonha laughed. "Maybe later you can. Today we are having family night, and she's still recovering from her trip. When she is well again, I will invite you to dinner."

"Maybe I'll invite you both to a karaoke room, too. Does your mother sing?"

"She is the best singer. Better than you." Cheonha winked.

"I don't know about that. We'll have to have a contest, then."

They'd approached Cheonha's apartment building at that point, and with that cue, the conversation ended. Cheonha gave her friend one final smile.

"I will see you later, okay?"

"Okay. By then."

And Eunha left. Cheonha was too busy greeting the doorman to notice how Eunha turned back and watched her enter the apartment building. But she did miss Eunha's presence once she got to the elevator.

 _Pressing buttons with full arms is irritating._ Cheonha managed it anyway, and the elevator doors opened for her. _Maybe I should have asked Eunha for help._

Cheonha yawned. She really hadn't done much that day, so there was no real reason for her to be tired. But she was happy. And happy she was as she went to her door, thinking about all the things she would cook that night. Maybe next week her mother would be strong enough to eat the local fried chicken. Cheonha hadn't had it since her mother had arrived.

"Is a holiday coming up?" Cheonha asked herself as she set down two bags and got her key to unlock the door. "Maybe I should order some for Parent's Day."

Cheonha pushed open the door and reached for her other bags. But she never picked them up. There on the floor was Suha, prostrate and unmoving. Cheonha immediately threw down everything she held and dashed over.

"Omma!" Cheonha shrieked and shook her mother's shoulder. "Omma!"

\\\\\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

\- Shorter chapter, quicker update. I'm working, I promise. It's just that my computer had a RAM failure, and it's working only spotty-like. I'm ordering some more RAM in a minute, so we'll see what happens after that.


	17. Alone

Screw life. I am just about done with everything. I simply can't life anymore. It's just too much. How long has it been since I graduated with that associate's in accounting? Too long. Only it turns out that accounting is a stupid field to go into if you don't know anybody, because you can't get a job otherwise. Not without experience. I kinda figured that if someone had a bachelor's degree, they might do better than I did. Only it turns out that I know a guy with his master's and he can't get a job in that field either.

It has to do with experience. You can't work in accounting without experience, and you can't get experience without a job – or perhaps volunteering to work for free, assuming they'll take you even then. I tried that. Didn't work out. It would have been for the best if I'd become an intern – before graduating. Apparently people who hire interns want those who are currently in school, not graduates. Not just an accounting thing, apparently. So now I'm planning on going back to school – for programming. Screw accounting.

But I can't even complain. I don't have that right. Cheonha's mother is dead. I barely know what happened, because Cheonha's in too much grief to say much on the internet, and Charlie's not teleporting anyone right now. It was poison, though. The cops are still investigating how it happened. More than likely it was in the food, or so I'm going to guess. They've got Cheonha holed up somewhere while all this is happening. Either they're not letting her talk online, or she doesn't want to. Can't blame them, either way.

So instead of helping Cheonha out with her problems, I'm stuck here in the middle of mine. I'm slowly running out of money, and if I don't get my tax refund soon, I'm not going to be able to go on much longer. What's left for me then? Homelessness? Living with some tolerant person? That money of Aldaris' is getting real appealing, but I want to be honest. That's it, I just have to ask. Charlie's not going to say no. He's leaving, anyway, so what does he need Earth money for now? Of course, that's what I thought before his voice popped up in my head again.

"Bethany," his voice was firm and authoritative as he spoke. "You no doubt know of Cheonha's misfortune.

"Yeah," I answered, aloud since I was at home. "I haven't been able to talk to her, though, I think she's been sequestered somewhere."

"Has she any other family in Seoul, however distant?"

"No. I think she mentioned having a friend once, but that's it."

Aldaris didn't say anything for a second. "Bethany, it has been some time, but you once claimed to be holding human money for my personal use."

Blinking, I pricked up my ears. "Uh, yeah."

"Is it enough to purchase a gemstone? Even a small stone may prove appropriate."

I ran the numbers in my head. "I think so, but I doubt I can get anything of especially good quality."

"The quality is of no special concern. It must simply be blue, and preferably in some easy to wear, unobtrusive setting."

Uh…Aldaris wants me to buy some jewelry? What for? Kinda doubt we on Earth have anything, erm, suitable for him. Or does this have something to do with Cheonha? Charlie sensed my doubt, and emitted the same kind of emotion he always does when I ask him questions about Protoss technology. Pfft. No answers for me. Who knows if I even need answers? It's not like a gem is a bomb.

"Uh, okay, what do you mean by blue? Like, what kind of gemstone?"

"I could not say, not being familiar with human terminology. I cannot be more specific. In terms of base components, a darker blue stone of any rock-based planets may be appropriate. What I intend may not be possible, but I shall attempt it nonetheless."

"'Kay." I answered. "I better not get blue zircon, then. That's usually just heat-treated clear zircon. Oh hey, is lab-created stone okay, or does it have to be natural?"

"I cannot say. What is of primary importance is the chemical composition, not the means of production."

"Ah, cool then. Lab created specimens are chemically identical."

"Thank you, Bethany. At what point can I expect to receive the item?"

"Well, I'm going to work today, and I pass the mall when I do. I'll leave early and stop by there. So unless you can get it from be some time when I'm out, I'll have it tonight when I come home. Like eleven at night."

"Very well. I will contact you again at this time."

And with that, he disappeared from my head. My shoulders sagged. "I'm gonna have to apply for food stamps, aren't I?"

I glanced out the window. Man, that moving truck has been there the past couple days. How long does it take them to move stuff? Eh, maybe it's one of those rental trucks or something. I'm gonna go drown my sorrows in Red Rose tea. I keep I ton the top of the fridge, so I reached up there to get it. …the box was empty. I really need something to drown my sorrows in.

…I wish I could at least be there for Cheonha.

-t-

Cheonha had been there for days. Or it had to have been, but she didn't take notice. One day was no different from another. Not even the day they buried Suha. She didn't have the normal three days of mourning. Nobody here knew Suha, so there was no point. Cheonha hadn't left the apartment Eunha'd arranged for her since the burial. She didn't do anything. She simply couldn't move, and didn't want to. The corner of the room, on the floor next to the side of the couch was Cheonha's perch. She didn't do anything. She didn't even think, because thinking inevitably brought to mind her mother, and her loneliness. So Cheonha stared at the opposite wall, where the expensive-looking TV stood on its entertainment stand. Actually, the whole apartment was expensive looking, but Cheonha wasn't paying for it. She didn't know who was. Maybe Eunha, or maybe the government. Figuring that out required effort.

Effort… Effort was a mystical island, a far fantasy somewhere out beyond the bounds of La La Land. The only reality was the corner, the rough carpet, and the side of the couch that Cheonha leaned into. Nothing else was real. Not even her memories. There was no world, no future, only a dull present with no existence a few feet away from Cheonha's fallen eyes. Not that she looked. She closed them. Then the shadow of a frown passed over her face. With the passing of an electrical twinge, the air changed. What was once the cool air passing through the air conditioner became the stale aura of constantly repurified oxygen drifting aimlessly past her nose.

Cheonha opened her eyes, though she didn't want to. She didn't want to talk to Aldaris. Or anyone. She'd already scared off Eunha, so now it was time to scare off Aldaris. It probably wouldn't be hard. Aldaris wasn't like Eunha. He wasn't one of those people who constantly nagged you to because he was "supposed" to cheer you up, not leaving you alone until he forced out a fake smile. But Eunha didn't get a smile, and the Protoss wouldn't either.

Cheonha looked up. Yes, Aldaris was standing there, and they were in the control room. Aldaris had this sort of stern look on his face, dignified but softened, just enough to show a polite sympathy. Cheonha hated that look. She'd seen it too often since coming to South Korea, and now she hated it more than ever. And she hated Aldaris. She hated him for giving her hope, for allowing her to believe that she just might be happy. Cheonha's face burned, and a red wrath pigmented her skin. She stood to her feet, summoning all the words she'd been wanting say.

"You.. " Cheonha began, before returning to her native Korean. "Why did you do this to me? I could have spent my whole life in Choson. I wouldn't have known any better. I could have been with my mother, and lived longer with her. I would have been hard, but we could have survived together! I don't need clothes, or nice apartments or cars, or lots of food. I would give all of that back! I would trade it all for my mother! Even if we died together tomorrow, we would be together!"

Tears spilled from her eyes as she continued. "Why did you have to teleport me away? It's been a long time, and you never said! You never explained why you stole away my life! You should have left us in the north! You _ruined everything_!"

Aldaris said nothing. The expression on his face, as well as his eyes, flickered only a little. Cheonha realized she was being a little irrational – why not blame the alien for more specific things?

"You killed my mother. " She said. "You killed her when you went to the north and let all those people see you! You're stupid! How could you not know that agents of the north would come after me? How did you not know? You are stupid!" Cheonha's voice rose to a shriek. "Or are you evil? Why do you hate me so much that you do this to me? You might as well kill me now! I hate you, I hate you!"

Choked by tears, Cheonha stopped, scowling as she wiped her tears. Much to her annoyance, her ravings had no overt reaction. Indeed, the more she'd gone on, the calmer Aldaris seemed – the more the expression on his face molded itself to the image of the self-righteous, "wise" authority – the type that didn't sympathize and were bad at pretending they did. Cheonha wanted to spit in his face. Much to her surprise, Aldaris began to approach her. She stepped back, instantly afraid. She glanced back and winced. She couldn't go far; behind her was the window, and even being near the void of space made her feel funny. Seeing her apprehension, Aldaris said something in English. In her state, Cheonha only caught "you." There was a silent beat, then Aldaris came forward, holding his hands towards her. He went before her, kneeling down well within Cheonha's spitting range. But that thought had passed, and Cheonha accepted from his hand something small and hard.

Aldarirs held her hands in his, again saying something. She didn't understand. Then he let her go and turned again to his controls. The familiar waves of blue returned her to the apartment again. Cheonha looked at the item in her hands. It was a necklace, one with a blue stone on a golden chain. The stone was cut into a square shape, its facets blinking even under stale fluorescent bulbs. Cheonha guessed it was a sapphire, but she didn't know much about jewelry identification. In an instant, Cheonha was furious. Was a necklace supposed to take her mother's place? Cheonha gripped it tight, ready to turn and throw it out the window.

She was blind! Everything went dark, and Cheonha jumped off the ground and into the stars. With a gasp, she let go, and the world returned to his normal state. Shaking, she stared at the gem as it lay there on the carpet.

 _Why did Aldaris give me this?_

Still shaking, she pinched the necklace by its chain and held it up. It sure _looked_ normal. Daring to try again, her fist closed over the stone again. Darkness, once more. But as Cheonha watched, she realized it wasn't space, only the night sky. Sitting there before her was Omma – and herself! Suddenly, Cheonha understood that she wasn't flying. She was looking through Aldaris' eyes. This was his memory, the memory he had of all of them sitting together at that house, and Omma was singing. Memory Omma's voice filled the vision, and Cheoha's heart. Returning to her position beside the couch, Cheonha continued to clasp the necklace for hours and hours. Eunha returned to find Cheonha asleep in the corner, necklace still held tight in her hands.

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Author's Notes:

\- I apologize again for the delay. This time I had the perfectly valid excuse of RAM failure. My laptop is dead, and I'm forced to write this story in my notebook, and then type it up on the days I have off at the library. It really, really sucks not to have a computer right now, and until my tax situation gets sorted out, it's not coming in. Thankfully the problem should be solved soon.

\- "Choson" up there is Cheonha's reference to North Korea. When North Koreans say it, they usually mean the entire Korean continent. Cheonha's not loyal enough to care. South Koreans usually call Korea "Hanguk", which I'm pretty sure also refers to both Koreas. The South is, naturally, far less uptight about referring to their nation by the "correct" word. Both are technically correct, as they refer to past eras in Korea's history. "Korea" too, actually.

\- So yeah, Aldaris turned a necklace into a memory crystal. This is sort of an extrapolation from the "Dark Templar" trilogy (I put Dark Templar in quotes because the books aren't really about them at all). One of the dumb things about these books is that Dark Templar are supposedly the ones that use memory crystals for their history, while the Aiur 'Toss instead use preservers. Not only is this a retcon of past stuff, but why in the world would Dark Templar make memory crystal histories if the crystals they need exist only on Aiur? If these crystals exist elsewhere, why did the main characters bother going to Aiur to get one in the first place? Couldn't they just use a spare that the Dark Templar had lying around?

But this story is based around my personal headcanon—that is, the Starcraft universe is not entirely like the games, because unlike the games, it has to make sense. So there's two versions of Starcraft: the games, and then the place that "really" exists. And in the "real" K Sector, Aiur is the center of all crystal-based memory storage, because they're the ones with the crystals. Granted, Khaydarins aren't the only stones that can hold memories, they're just the best at it. Also, the Nerazim did leave Aiur with some crystals of their own. Both sides discovered how to put smaller, shorter memories on other types of stones.

Any human can understand memory crystals, unless the 'Toss makes specific efforts to block them out when they make the crystal. They can also tune crystals to block anyone of any race. Though any psychic with enough experience can evade the block, so most Protoss don't bother blocking more than it would take to render a stone inert to non-psychics. Note, however, that human psychics can't copy memories into stones. It's an extremely tricky combination of skills that one needs many years to master – more years than humans live.

Aldaris specifies a blue stone because Khaydarins are naturally blue, though occasionally purple or clear. He knows that the chemicals that result in blue stones are the best chemicals for transferring memories, but since he knows very little about Earth stones, this is basically just a lucky guess.


	18. They Haven't been Lazy

I'm on food stamps. They call it EBT benefits now, but yeah. Engh...I officially apologize to and thank all the people who are subsidizing my substinence. That has nothing to do with Aldaris, but I just wanted to put that out there. Thank you for the food. I can't wait until I finally have a positive impact on the economy again. I just got done reading a book on how FDR's stupid welfare policies screwed up America's economy for generations.

But yeah, this is a journal about Charlie, so on with it. So I was having a meh day. I'd just bought up some food with the EBT card, had some dinner, caught some annoying flies in a honey-filled tupperware bin, and lay down on the floor and had an existential crisis until bedtime. I was tired from walking with groceries, and I didn't want to do anything but sleep.

And I couldn't. Sleep, that is. So I got on my computer and watched some downloaded episodes of Project Runway on my computer for the thirtieth time. Still couldn't sleep. I drank some water, did another cryptogram, and read my book on dealing with difficult people. Didn't work. That's when I started to pray. Normally when I can't sleep, it's because something is wrong with someone, like I mentioned to Aldaris that night we were at Kensley's. The more I prayed, the weirder I felt, and I started to pace around the room.

Because I was so alert, I immediately noticed when the air began to taste like electric soda. The recall unit again? I would have been annoyed, at any other time. Because I sensed it, I had enough time to stuff my feet into shoes.

Actually, Charlie was annoyed enough for the both of us. I'd appeared in his control room, and he was at the computer doing something. The instant the blue stuff dissolved, he grimaced as though I'd just interrupted him doing something either bad or thought-intensive.

For some reason, and I'm only just remembering this now, the stars were actually moving outside. Normally Aldaris' ship moves too slow to notice how the stars and Earth react to his orbits, but nah, dude was orbiting way faster this time. Huh. I wonder why.

In any case, once Aldaris finished glaring at me, he stopped the ship with rapid, annoyed banging on the controls. Wait, oh, I know. He was trying to go back to the K Sector. I can't believe I forgot something like that. Trust me, I have reasons.

But at the time I was really antsy, and barely registered Aldaris' annoyance. I started pacing around his bridge, and he'd started looking at me like I'd lost my mind. 

"Charlie," I said, still pacing. "Charlie, can we...can we check on the guys? It's just...I really, really think something is wrong, and...it's like somebody I know is in really big danger."

When I said that, Aldaris just stared at me, almost angry-like. But then he got control of himself again.

"As you can see," he said carefully. "I am in no such danger."

"That's why we need to check on everyone else." I said. "I can't sleep. I can't."

"Bethany, did you at all consider that this may be a symptom of your own personal circumstances, rather than a premonition?"

"Cheonha," I squeaked. "Find Cheonha. Where is she? Please...hurry..."

My throat tightened, and it suddenly became hard to breathe. My arms started to shake, and I felt lightheaded. But still, Aldaris did nothing. Well, nothing besides scrutinize the hapless girl having a panic attack on his bridge.

"Charlie! Hurry!"

I didn't watch. I was starting to feel nauseous, so I sat on the floor and focused on breathing. Aldaris, I guess to make me calm down, finally did go to his computer and start poking at it. The tension in my lungs subsided, and I could kinda breathe again. I felt silly, for a second wondering if I was getting worked up about nothing.

It wasn't nothing.

"Bethany!" Aldaris snapped.

I jumped to my feet.

"Ready yourself!"

"Right!"

Shaking the fog from my head, I steeled my nerves. Images without words popped into my mind, a silent briefing from the telepath. It took only moments, and in only seconds I was teleported out again.

-t-

Choi Eunha felt weird. Death wasn't unfamiliar to her, and yet she never understood how to handle it. Her own tactic was to shut down, to not speak to anyone for a while, and never about the death. At the same time, seeing this tactic in Cheonha made it feel wrong. Or was that just a feeling?

Eunha turned onto her street, past the convenience store and towards her apartment building. It was strange enough having a gloomy roommate, but Eunha'd made progress. Last night she'd coaxed Cheonha from the side of the couch to the bed, and that morning she'd even got Cheonha to take a shower. Now Eunha returned to the apartment, fried chicken in the bag in her hand. Cheonha really liked fried chicken, so maybe she'd eat properly that evening.

 _Well, one step at a time,_ Eunha sighed. _I should just talk about really shallow things for a while. Cheonha doesn't need to talk about her feelings until she's ready. Until then -_

A twenty-something looking guy running down the sidewalk interrupted her thoughts. He ran straight toward her, and Eunha dodged to the side so he wouldn't run her over. Shaking her head, Eunha went on. She'd almost gotten back on her train of thought before another human missile, speeding out of a side alleyway, ran into her, barely slowing down in time to keep from knocking her over.

" _Shillehhamneedah!_ " the missile called back as she ran forward, right where the man had come from.

Despite the decent accent, the voice immediately revealed itself as out of place. The woman's blonde ponytail bobbed up and down as she ran; clearly this was no Korean. Eunha blinked, but straightened her shirt and continued walking.

 _Why is everyone in such a hurry?_

All too ready to put strange runners out of her mind, Eunha tried to retreat back to her thoughts. Until she noticed that the foreigner had turned into her apartment building. Eunha walked faster, a tense feeling rising in her stomach. Torn between her dignity and her fear, Eunha couldn't get to the apartment building fast enough. But as she entered, her fear's side began to win. Instead of taking the elevator, Eunha went up the stairs, a dread forcing her up ever faster. Her heart jumped to her throat at the sound of a loud banging. Eunha discovered the blonde was kicking down a door. _Her_ door!

The instant the strange woman in glasses noticed Eunha, she glared and shouted. " _Handepone_! _Il il ku, chonwa-haeyo_!"

With one final kick, the door crashed open. The foreigner instantly ran inside, and Eunha behind her. Neither shrieked when they saw the sight inside, but neither could be blamed if they had. Inside was Cheonha, lying on the floor, a gash of red darkening her side and the carpet surrounding.

" _Handepone_!" the foreigner repeated as she ran to Cheonha's side. " _Chigum_!"

-t-

It's been hours. I'm so glad I sleep in my clothes. It's weird enough being in a foreign hospital, nevermind being here in pajamas. It's been hours. Er, I already said that. But sitting in a hospital waiting room with blood on your clothes. The knees of my jeans are blood red from the carpet, and probably there's a lot more blood on me too. Add to that my mess of hair, and I look like a psycho.

Cheonha's still in surgery. We got to her pretty fast, and apparently a hospital wasn't too far back, but she was stabbed more than once. It's the worst mental image, but so hard to stop thinking about. That pain, that nausea I felt on Aldaris' ship was starting to come back, and I sank down in my chair, head between my knees. I tried to pray that Cheonha would live, but it's been a struggle. It's been hours, like I said, and that time made me a zombie.

That one girl who was with me disappeared after we got Cheonha to the hospital. I didn't know who she was, but she followed me to the place Cheonha was staying for some reason. Eh, convenient, because even if I'd had my cell phone on me, pretty sure it can't get coverage in Korea. But...if only Aldaris had been faster. I mean, it was a silly premonition for me to have come here, but...if only...

A chair moved, but I didn't. I stared at the speckled tiles without registering them. It was only a few seconds later when a voice said something. In korean. Again, I'm a noob, and hearing the language from a real person is a little different from hearing it from a slow-speaking "learn korean" cd. Whoever was talking, she had to repeat it a couple times before my head went up. Oh, it was that girl again. She'd come back.

"Are you talking to me?" I asked. "Uh, _hangungmal chalmot malsseyo. Yongo-rul araseyo?_ "

"Yes, I know english," she said, frowning at me. "Who are you?"

Seeing no reason to answer dishonestly, I answered, "Bethany Beverly, American. And you?"

"I'm Eunha Choi."

I gave a faint, half smile. "Go ahead and say 'Choi Eunha.' The normal Korean way is cuter."

Eunha didn't smile. "How long have you known Cheonha?"

I blinked. "Um, maybe a few months. Something like that. We're internet friends."

"Have you been to Korea before?"

"Yeah, I was here back in 2008. Did some touring. Went to Seoraksan."

"And any time since? This isn't the first time you've been back, is it?"

"Uh..." I scratched the back of my neck. "Any reason why I'm being interrogated? I mean heck, how long have _you_ known Cheonha?"

"I have known her for six months," Eunha replied. "Ever since I was assigned to her case."

My eyebrows raised. "Case?"

"Of course. She came into a police station in Seoul one day six months ago with the pathetic story that she'd been rescued by strangers whose names she could not reveal, and she always refused to say who it was. She wouldn't talk about her rescue except in vague, noncommittal answers. We take the safety of our nation very seriously, Ms. Beverly. This wouldn't be the first time the north has sent spies."

Red alert! Shields up! Danger! I suddenly regretted telling her my real name. But I let the shock hit my face anyway. After all, at this point it'd be more suspicious if I didn't look surprised.

"Cheonha...Cheonha isn't a spy," I said. "At least, I don't think she is."

"We came to that conclusion too." Eunha answered. "Which is why we have let her live in Seoul normally. But then we encountered other suspicious activity."

The major benefit of being a huge doofus is that you're really good about making people think you're completely guileless. I do it all the time...without trying.

"Oh? What activity?"

"For one," Eunha narrowed her eyes. "She's suddenly internet friends with three people from different parts of the world."

"Uh...is that really all that suspicious?" I asked. "I mean, I want to learn korean, she wants to learn english, that sort of thing."

"Yes, it's suspicious. Especially when the person in question randomly appeared in the middle of Seoul, with no record of passing through any cities on the edge of South Korea, or traveling by boat, taxi, or airplane. Then her mother appeared, also without any travel records."

"That's...well, I don't know anything about that," I answered. "I couldn't tell you if it's possible to get from North Korea to Seoul without somebody hearing about it."

"You were not involved in her rescue?"

"No, I didn't rescue her."

"Then have you heard of a man named Charlie? Did Cheonha ever tell you about him?"

I tried to think. Did I actually know anyone named Charlie? Not counting a certain alien reptile, of course, because my dear Aldaris isn't _named_ Charlie, just nicknamed. In that case, the only one I'd heard of was one of my dad's friends. "Charlie" isn't exactly a modern name.

"No, I don't know Charlie. Cheonha never described him to me."

Because she never had to. ...I'm getting too good at fake-truthing.

Eunha narrowed her eyes. "There was also an incident at the Bang Bang clothing store in Namdaemun. Employees there claim that Cheonha entered the store in shabby clothes, accompanied by a soggy American woman. Was that woman you?"

Oh crap, danger zone. Fortunately, my face was already dumbfounded, so I left it in dumbfounded mode. "What? Um, look, I really don't know who you are. If I'm going to be answering weird questions like this, I want to see some identification."

Without another word, she pulled out her ID. National Intelligence Service, Choi Eunha. Mm'kay. This is the point my mind starts racing. If something has caught the attention of South Korea's FBI, then they know something. How much do they know? Who have they been talking to? Well, fortunately, all they can know is about Cheonha's sudden appearance. Right?

Eunha pulled her ID back, and I continued to look dumbfounded. Better start talking so she doesn't ask me that Bang Bang question again. "Um, so this is really serious, isn't it?"

"Yes it is." Eunha slumped back into her chair. "I've known Cheonha for a while now, and whatever she's been through, she isn't malicious. She doesn't deserve everything that's happened. But now we know the north is serious about dealing with her. They wouldn't bother trying to kill her if she didn't mean anything to them."

"Wait, what?" I frowned. "You're telling me it was North Korea behind this? You're sure about that?"

"Cheonha spent all her time in her apartment or at the PC Bang. She never spoke to anyone she didn't have to and never was out late at night. It's impossible for her to have offended anyone enough to want to kill her." Eunha glanced askance at me. "Unless you know something."

I shook my head. "I don't. Cheonha never told me anything like that, or what she was before she left North Korea. I didn't want to ask, because it seemed too painful to her. But the doesn't seem like the kind of person who would know any, like, military secrets or something like that. She would have already told you if she did."

"Not if she wouldn't even mention how she got to Seoul."

"Good point."

I thought about it for a second. Yeah, Cheonha was from a poor village, but how do I know she'd always been there? Was she really involved in stuff we didn't know about? ...Nah, I doubt it. Probably the North Koreans were just freaked out about Charlie, and the attempted murder was a kidnapping attempt gone wrong. Or if it wasn't, they were dumb for not trying to find out more.

"So..." Eunha continued. "Why were you running to my apartment?"

"That was your apartment?"

"Yes. Not Cheonha's." Eunha's eyes took on all the steely gaze of a police officer. "How did you know where I live? And why did you tell me to call the police, before you even kicked down the door and saw what happened to Cheonha? You were running directly there, so you must know something."

"I...I had a hunch."

"A hunch?"

"Yes. A premonition." I rubbed my head as though a sensible explanation were caught in my hair. Unforunately, my hair was explanation-free, not tangle-free, and it took a second to dislodge my fingers. "I get these...impulses, and I know I have to act on them immediately when they come to me. When I can't sleep, I know something is wrong."

"You were sleeping in the middle of the day?"

"Uh..." Oh snap. I was sleeping in the middle of the Korean day, but the American night. So it's not lying if I answer in the affirmative, right? "Yes. I was."

"That doesn't explain why you know where I live."

I tried not to freeze with tension. Holy crap, this was bad. I almost said that Cheonha had emailed me about it, but that's a dumb thing to say to someone who can investigate internet records. Probably I could have thought of some decent excuse if I had enough time, but I only had a few short seconds with Eunha staring directly at me to come up with something logical.

"Choi Eunha?"

A doctor, stern but a bit scruffy looking, walked up to where Eunha sat. I pricked up my ears, but it was useless. They were talking too fast, and not in english. I caught "Cheonha," so he was clearly talking about her. Eunha got paler, but maintained her cool. I sat there, waiting intently for them to stop so that I could find out what was going on.

"Bethany." Oh, there goes Aldaris, talking to me in my brain again. "Leave this place at once. You are in a perilous position, and you should leave while they remain distracted."

Aldaris was right. It would look less suspicious if I waited for Eunha to stop and explain, but if I did, she'd be more likely to take me in for questioning, or something like that. Without saying anything, I got up and went for the nearest exit.

"Where are you going?"

Eunha's curt voice stopped me my tracks, but I only halfway turned my head towards her.

"I have to make a phone call."

"Don't leave the hospital. If you care about Cheonha at all, you need to stay."

What a loaded sentence. Which was probably true. I sighed. "I'll be back."

Well crap. I've been hanging with Charlie for months, and only now give in to my first bald-faced lie. But I walked away. There's cameras in hospitals, and I wasn't sure if there was some sort of alleyway nearby where I could duck and get out of sight. Heh, well, all modern buildings these days have stairs, and I'd be pretty shocked if there was a camera in there. I went into the stairwell, letting a few Koreans pass me by - probably a visiting family, or something. As soon as they were out of sight, I slumped against the wall.

 _Any time you're ready, Charlie._

I closed my eyes as the blue took hold of me and put me back in Aldaris' ship. He was still there, face in one hand as the other impatiently did something at the console. I only dared approach him a couple of steps, as his aura of bad feeling extended out pretty far. But I had to know.

"You were looking to see what happened to Cheonha, weren't you?"

"Yes."

"How is she?"

"Barely alive." Aldaris put both hands on the console before him, uneasily clenching his fingers. "Bethany, what chance is there that I...my activity resulted in this outcome?"

"Basically 100%," I retorted. "Eunha, that girl I was talking to, she said that the only people who would be motivated to kill Cheonha are North Koreans. The only reason we can be sure that North Korea would bother trying to kill her is because an alien from outer space and a _Miguk_ randomly poked around a dirt village. I'd imagine they were trying to get Cheonha back, rather than trying to kill her, but Cheonha must have messed that up, somehow."

Things were silent for a moment, and all of a sudden, my head felt heavy. I was getting tired. Too tired, at least, to bug Aldaris about his decision-making. For his part, Aldaris did seem to care. The light of his eyes dimmed, and he stared with a dull expression at the front viewscreen.

"Well," I muttered. "It's like I said. No one can do anything about North Korea without screwing something up."

That little comment earned me a one-way ticket back to Earth. Either that, or Aldaris already had my return coordinates loaded in. Bah, whatever. I didn't care. I was too tired. Just barely before I tossed myself onto the bed, I remembered that I was covered in dried blood. Well, into the laundry bin with my clothes, then to the shower. Only then did it really hit me. This was Cheonha's blood, and she was fighting for her life in a hospital. I threw up, barely making it to the toilet in time. I couldn't even look at the blood to wash it off, because if I looked, nausea came again. It was an hour later before I considered myself clean enough to go to bed, and even then the first birds of the morning were starting to chirp. I fell onto the pillows, hoping to fall asleep before the sun was fully up. I needn't have worried.

Unfortunately, it was a workday. My brain knows to get me up when I stress about time, so I ended up awake just before noon. Blergh. Slowly I went through my morning routine, including coffee and whatever I could make on my electric griddle. But I definitely didn't want to stay in the house until it was time to walk to work. I started gathering my things, then grabbed my phone and started texting the guys. Toby and Statkus had to know about Cheonha.

 _ **Bang, bang, bang!**_

"Aagh!" I fell out of my chair. "I mean, just a minute!"

It was somebody knocking on the door. Sheesh, the apartment isn't that big. What were they knocking so loud for? Outside stood two official looking people, a man and a woman. Once I'd opened the door, the man let drop an ID.

"Michael Carter, FBI," he said. "Bethany Beverly, I'm going to have to ask you to come with me."

"Me...?" I was looking like I'd never seen a face before, but I managed to interrupt my brain before it recited the rest of the lyrics of Chemical Brother's The Test. "...What for?"

"For questioning." the woman answered, showing her own ID. "Elaine Bradley."

"Nice to meet you. I'm not under arrest, am I?"

"Not at the moment."

"Uh, I have work today. ...Should I call and tell them that I won't make it?"

"Yes," the woman answered. "You should."

I didn't have a choice. Hoping to God that they weren't kidnappers with fake IDs, I followed them to their car. The man let me into the back door, and I entered.

It was over an hour before they started questioning me. They drove me to a local police station (as opposed to somewhere outside my home city), where I was told to go sit in one of those questioning rooms. Y'know, the ones that are really two rooms, and there's a two-way mirror between them. My side was just like in the movies: a big, concrete room empty of anything but a large, rectangular table, a few chairs, and a camera hanging ominiously from the ceiling. They let me stew a while in there, but since I'm not...okay, fine, I'm guilty of stuff. Leave me alone, already. I sat there and thought about pretty dresses, okay?

But it wasn't terribly long before the FBI agents came back in. I'm pretty sure they said their names were Michael and Elaine. They sat down in front of me, pulled out some papers, and began.

"Were you or were you not in South Korea this morning from about 1:15 am to 5:45 am, Eastern Standard Time?"

"Uh...that's kinda impossible," I answered. It takes like, 18 hours to fly to Korea, not counting prep time and getting to the airport and stuff, and y'all picked me up around noon."

"Exactly," Michael said. "Ms. Beverly, we'll be honest with you. We've noticed strange activity in your area for about six months. It all began with a strange anomaly in space, one that NASA still has yet to explain."

I kept my face blank. _That's when Charlie arrived at Earth._

"Ever since then," Michael continued, still holding my gaze. "We've tracked strange signals to and from certain areas of the planet that are similar to the initial phenomena. These signals tended to concentrate on California, North Carolina, London, and various places on the Korean peninsula. We learned to track these signals, and because of that, we were able to get satellite images of the location of one such signal."

Michael put a folder on the table and opened it. He pushed a picture towards me. I leaned forward and looked. The picture was sort of blurry on one side, for some reason, but the other half was clearly a human. Me. I recognized enough of the background to know that it was in North Korea.

"Ms. Beverly, please explain this photograph."

I stared at the picture, lost. It was all over, and I knew it. Sorry, Charlie. I took a deep breath.

"Okay, so I can explain everything," I said, leaning back in my chair. "These, uh, signals, you see, are actually teleporter landings."

"Are you claiming to have teleported to North Korea?" Elaine asked.

"Yes, because that's the truth." I thought for a second. "Oh hey, are you guys searching my apartment yet?"

"We're working on the warrant right now."

"Oh, well, um, whenever you get it, I have a little pink footstool in the living room. There should be a disc in there labeled 'Testimony' inside. It's a disc with everything I'm about to tell you in it. Okay, so like, here we go. The person responsible for these teleports is an alien. This alien looks to be around ten feet tall, and has reptile-like skin. No hair, and he has these tendril-like things sticking out the back of his head-"

"You mean like a Protoss?"

I paused, wincing and scrunching my eyes tight. "Urg...I didn't just want to come out and say it, because I didn't want to sound like a crackhead. But yes, he's a Protoss from the game Starcraft. Aldaris is his name." I peeked open my eyes, and neither agent looked at me as if I were crazy. They seemed mildly surprised, but not weirded out. "Wait, have you heard this before?"

"Yes," Elaine replied. "John Statkus has already been questioned. We know of Toby Collins and Cheonha Lee as well."

"Before I begin, let me make something clear," I leaned forward over the table in desperate sincerity. "Cheonha can't be blamed for what happened. She didn't understand what was going on. I'm not sure she even understands now. Not to mention she was stabbed just a few hours ago, so whatever happens, don't do anything to her. I mean, try and convince the South Korean government not to do anything to her."

"We can't promise anything," Elaine answered, still sitting straight as a Victorian matron. "But we'll judge that by what parts of your testimony that we can confirm."

"Uh...okay, but just bear in mind that Cheonha, because she doesn't really know english, we couldn't tell her what was going on. What happened was...the four of us were accidentally abducted by an alien." Despite the seriousness of the situation, I choked down a laugh. Who among us really has been kidnapped by aliens? Either it's funny, or I'm losing my mind. "And it really was an accident, because he looked pretty pissed off when we saw him. Well, here, let me start at the beginning..."

\\\\\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

\- _Handepone_ means cell phone - literally it's "hand phone," just like it looks. _Il il ku_ is "one, one, nine," or Korean 911. Yes, theirs is 119, if you're ever over there (England's is 999, for the record). _Chonwa_ means "phone" and _-haeyo_ is the polite suffix for "to do." When used without _haeyo_ , _chonwa_ is a noun. Lots of words in korean are like that, as in, they're a noun when by themselves, but a verb when put with the - _ha_ suffix (which converts to - _hae_ in certain circumstances, like when paired with polite style _-yo_ ). Kinda convenient, really.

Oh, and never use that sentence. My character was in a hurry, so she wasn't using correct grammar or honorifics. Politely telling a stranger to do something would make the sentence end in - _hashimsheeyo_.

\- Seoraksan is a mountain in eastern South Korea, and is a great place to visit, especially in the winter when they have these amazing snow sculptures up.

\- I've decided to make my chapters bigger. I don't update that often due to computer issues, and I can't afford a replacement until they send me my tax refund check. I filed the refund in February. It is June now, and I haven't seen a cent. Apparently the problem with my refund didn't require them to notify me. Because they suck. In any case, longer chapters! It's a bit less dramatic that way, as I'd intended that this chapter be two. However, I don't want to have a huge number of chapters. The best stories on fanfiction net tend to be more succinct.

\- I didn't mean to make all the Korean girls have "ha" names. That's just how it turned out. I mean, Suha gave her daughter a similar name because she thought it was cute, but Eunha's just a coincidence.

\- Yeah, even though it's been years since I started this story, timewise it all takes place in six months. Slow updates don't mean time in the story passes as quickly. It just means I need to stop slacking.


	19. The End of Everything

Alone again in the interrogation room. I wish they'd given me a newspaper, or something. Or a toy. But I guess it doesn't matter. I was so tired from having been up all night, plus minimal sleep, plus being grilled by two FBI agents for Lord knows how long. So I just put my head down and hoped to sleep. Ah, life. What have you done to me? Er, well, what have I done to life, is more like it. But whatever. It's really nice to enjoy the weirdness of one's situation, not knowing what will happen next. Kinda makes you feel like vomiting profusely.

 _Oh yeah, my donut girl,_ I suddenly thought, for no reason. _I really should get that back from Aldaris before he leaves._

"Bethany? What is this location?"

Aldaris found me? I froze, for a second unable to answer. Then I noticed the way his question was phrased. Dude was looking out of my eyes. He could see the interrogation room. He could also hear my loud thoughts, so he heard me think "interrogation room." ...There's a way to keep a 'Toss out of your mind, right?

Okay, once more, even though this entire conversation took place in my thoughts, I'm going to write it as though we were speaking out loud, because nobody wants to read that much italics at one time.

"We got caught, Charlie," I said, simply. "They can target your teleports, and they even have a satellite photo of us two in North Korea. You're blurred out for some reason, but I'm not. Sorry, Charlie, I forgot to mention satellites. Stands to reason some of them would be pointed at the world's most oppressive nations."

If he was upset, Aldaris didn't show it. "What have you told your interrogators?"

"Everything, from beginning to end. Except about your condition, of course. That would just be rude. I'm sorry, Charlie, but I'm not on your side. Not really, anyway. I didn't mind not saying anything for your sake, but I won't lie to my government for you."

"...For once you display principle. It is long past time you honored your rightful loyalties. Though you will nonetheless be punished for your actions."

Silence. I put my head back on the table. Besides being tired, I didn't want took look like I was having a conversation with a psychic when the agents reviewed the camera footage.

"It's not that bad," I answered. "Sure, things are tough at the moment, but can't arrest me without proving you're real. After all, if I'm suddenly arrested, my family and coworkers are going to be wondering what the uber-honest doofus did that's really so bad. The government can't exactly tell them that I was associating with a ficititious character."

"Stop being a fool. No longer can you hide behind your false predictions when this is the clear outcome. It is easy enough for your authorities to assign to you a crime which seems within your capabilities."

"Again, dude, we're not dealing with the Terran Dominion, here. I mean, come on, supposing they did arrest me. How illogical would that be? Why bother arresting someone who's their primary contact to an alien entity?"

"Allow me to make myself entirely clear. I shall _not_ reveal my presence to the humans for your sake, nor make any attempt to alleviate your punishment, or remove you from it. You are entirely at the whims of the consequences to your actions."

"Okay, I understand."

"Is that the truth?" Aldaris got really angry at this point. "With every word you make obvious your absense of understanding. What you have done is no petty crime, but high treason. Were you a Protoss child engaging in analogous behavior, death by execution would be a likely outcome. I myself could give such an order and feel no regret. Will the humans be more merciful to you? Will they forget that you withheld information from them of a power beyond their understanding, capable of destroying all they hold dear? I restrain myself for my own reasons, but can they see your actions in this light?"

"Yes...? I mean, after all...I didn't do anything to make you think you needed to attack Earth. That, uh, probably...counts for something..." At least I sure hope it does. "Am I correct in assuming that you would respect me more had I blabbed about you from the first?"

"Bethany," Aldaris said, almost as though he was sighing. "How can I not comment when a young person behaves so foolishly?"

I sat up. It's so hard to rest when an alien in your brain is yelling at you. "You're not going to kill me, are you?"

"I should have done so sooner. Ending your life at this present time will only alert your government."

"In other words, you're a nice person."

"No. I am, or have been, misguided. Indeed, I have proved altogether too 'nice' until this point. That is the cause of my trouble. I will not soon repeat my mistake."

I thought about Cheonha. Yeah, his niceness was the cause of his trouble. If he hadn't tried to save Cheonha's mother, then Cheonha wouldn't be fighting for her life in a hospital. Ordinarily I wouldn't bring up such a sensitive subject, but, I could kinda tell that Aldaris was thinking about that too. Seriously, for a guy who hates humans, sometimes he just doesn't seem like it.

"Well, I wasn't going to ask you to help," I said. "Not to get me out of here, anyway. But if you would, the FBI agents said that they had Statkus and Toby in custody, or they like, have them under survellience or something. If you could tell me about the guys and Cheonha, that would be cool. Just let me know if they're okay, alright?"

"Have I not just mentioned that I shall no longer be 'nice'?"

"Well...whatever. If you feel like it, or something." I pulled off my (probably fake) ruby ring, and started to spin it on the table. "But I think I'll be able to contact them again."

"You seem so certain of this."

"Fairly certain, though I admit things are starting to feel pretty serious now. It's so scary now that I actually know we're - us humans - are being watched. Though if you think about it, it makes sense for them to let me go. I'm more likely to do something that either confirms or denies my story, so they'll be able to collect evidence one way or another. Besides, they've got this law that says nobody can be held more than 24 hours without being charged with a crime, so they've got until noon tomorrow to let me go before I start quoting law books."

"And you still insist you will go unpunished?"

"...That's less certain. Then again, that does depend on you. Not planning on any more crazy adventures, are you?"

"Did I plan the first?"

"Still," I spun the ring again. "What are you going to do? If you're going to leave for the K Sector, you might as well leave now. There's nothing you can do here that will help the Protoss."

"...I am reluctant to leave while Cheonha's life remains in jeopardy. I bear some responsibility for this outcome, and departing while her future is in doubt is undesirable."

I chuckled. "Do you want me to warn you every time you're being nice? Because you're being nice again."

"Do not be absurd. I am not motivated by kindness, but a preference for clarity. In any case, remember my words. You can expect no aid; whatever punishment you are assigned you deserve, and I shall not interfere."

"What you're saying is fair," I sighed and jammed my ring back on my finger. "And I'll accept whatever happens. But I still argue that everything I did is reasonable, and has a logical basis."

"Then in that hope I leave you. We will speak again, ere the end."

Wow, what a freaking spooky way to say goodbye to someone. Then again, whatever happens to me next is going to be spooky, so he might as well be morbid. Being morbid is fun. Or at least it seems fun to the person who has no choice but to accept it.

 _Man, I really wish I wasn't missing work. I can't afford to lose money on my paycheck._

I was too out of sorts to really do anything. I tried to think of how I could make more money. I tried to review all the reasons why the second half of Death Note fell flat. I tried to think of pretty dresses. Nothing distracted me. By the time I was mentally exhausted enough to try and fall asleep again, agent Michael came back in again.

"Ms. Beverly," he said. "Just to let you know, we have already obtained a warrant, and your home is being searched right now."

"'Kay." I thought about the clothes in my hamper, still stained with Cheonha's blood. Well, they heard my testimony, so whatever.

"Also, you will most likely be released this evening. Please do not speak of anything you said here. I'm giving you a number to contact, and you will immediately report anything unusual as it happens. Failure to do so will be considered grounds for arrest."

My face went cold as the blood drained away, but I managed to hold it together. "I understand."

"Also, you will do your best to pursuade the alien to speak with us."

Bffft. Lol, no, as if that's going to happen. Then again, I don't know how serious he was being. With his tone, it's kinda impossible to know if he even believes a word I said since I got here.

"Uh, I don't really see what the point of that is," I said. "He said he's going to leave soon."

"But you'll try?"

"...No, he's already repeatedly got on my case for even implying that he'll talk to anybody on Earth. Even when I wasn't implying."

"And you're certain he doesn't have any intentions for Earth?"

"Prolly woulda done something by now if he did."

"Alright then, keep in touch with us if anything changes," Michael gave me a weird glance, but otherwise seemed friendly. "Come on out and get some coffee. You look like you need it."

I laughed. "I need a nap, that's what. Ugh, my life. There's some place to lie down around here?"

"They've got a couch in the station, I think." Michael said. "Oh, and just in case, if we happen to discover 'Aldaris' before he leaves, how do you recommend we react?"

"Just remember that he's a person. People all expect aliens to be weirdos, but he's really normal. He's only scary if you let him be. He's perfectly capable of being rational and talking things out, if you give him a chance."

"John said the opposite. He claimed that Aldaris threatened to kill you if John didn't keep you from talking."

"What? Oh, that's funny." It was funny, but I only grinned a little. "Nah, Aldaris wouldn't. He bothered to save my life once, so it'd be a waste if he did. He wouldn't really kill me unless I did something stupid like mess with his ship. Nah, he's perfectly reasonable."

"Okay, I suppose." Michael started to stand, but then rested back in his chair, putting about with his hands. "There's no easy way to say this, but you probably want to know."

I stared. That pose and that tone were not good news.

"Cheonha Lee didn't make it. She's dead."

Nothing happened. Ever. The world didn't turn, the sun didn't shine, and time was vanity. And because time refused to go forward at a pace perceptible by man, the electrical impulses from my ears didn't reach my brain.

"Er, excuse me?" I blinked, and the world resumed its usual state long enough for me to understand what was going on. "I mean...I mean...thank you...for...telling me..."

And then everything silenced. Hunger and exhaustion didn't exist. Talk was just a scorching wind in the desert. I shut down like a lump, saying and doing nothing, waiting until my brain received some further input. One way or another I managed to get out of the interrogation room, but my only prevailing memory of that night is that people saying words, even though they had no voices.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

Given that my hard drive just died today (I'm on the library computer now), it's probably going to be a while before my next update.


	20. She's the Sun

I got home, somehow. I went to work, somehow. I came home and ate some rice, stared at the wall, and sat there. Agent Michael's business card was still on the plastic tub I used as a table. So it was right there in front of me as I ate. The agent gave it to me because he wated me to keep him updated if anything happened with Aldaris. There's no laws on aliens, but prolly I'd get in trouble if I didn't tell this guy what he wanted to know I picked up the card, then dug into my backpack for my cell phone, and dialed his numer.

"Hello?"

"Uh yes, hi," I answered. "This is Bethany Beverly."

"The one with the alien?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Alright, what's your alien up to?" Michael chuckled.

"Nothing, that I know of. Uh, I just wanted to ask when you guys searched my apartment, did you copy my hard drive?"

"Yes, I believe they did. That's standard procedure, anyway."

"Ah, cool then. See, my hard drive just died today, and no, I'm not blaming you guys. It's been on its way out for a couple of months. I was just wondering if I could get a copy of that hard drive. Or at least the documents on it."

"I'm not sure that's possible. I'll put in a request for you, though."

"Thanks. Oh, and you guys can read all the stories on there, but I would prefer that you didn't distribute them. Copyrights, you know."

"...The girl who claims she's been withholding information on an extraterrestrial entity is lecturing me about what's right?"

"Uh...yes...?"

Michael laughed a bit at that. "Don't worry about it. We have rules."

"Thanks, I appreciate that."

"Bye then."

"Bye."

I pushed the end call button and set down my cell phone. Then I groaned. I should have asked Michael about Cheonha. She and her mother needed a funeral. How we were going to get one together, and who would come to it, was beyond me. Koreans do this thing where mourners come and bow before the picture of the deceased. People have thee days to go do so, and then is the burial. There's probably more to it than that, but I'll have to do my research properly when I find out what they've done with Cheonha's and Suha's bodies. I started feeling sick. There's no way in the world Charlie will ever let me and the guys go to South Korea now that he knows the feds are onto us. I figured at that point that he was back in the K Sector by now. It was the only thing he could do at that point that made any sense.

...And if he was in the K Sector right now, I wouldn't be in trouble.

Turned out not to be the case, though. Instead, Aldaris interrupted my plans to stare at the wall by the teleporting me to his ship. It was the observatory again, only now there was a chair inexplicably in the middle of it. It was a nice chair, an armchair with a high back and two sides alongside that back. The kind of chair you fall asleep on when you're at your well-off grandma's house. Kind of anachronistic on an alien spaceship. I wondered where it came from. Had that been here on Aldaris' ship before? I hope so, because it doesn't seem right that dude would steal a chair.

"Sit."

I didn't see where he was, and I didn't look. One does not look when one hears _that_ tone. I sat in the chair, placing my hands on the armrests and trying not to dig into them with my nails. And failed when Aldaris suddenly appeared above my head. I mean heck, guy is nearly ten feet tall, and dang if he didn't look it right at that very moment.

He stared down at me, with the burning stare of a monster. I bit my lip and tried not to tremble as he slowly lowered down to eye level.

"You have gone back on your word."

"I'm sorry, really..." I said. "But I wasn't going to lie to my government for you. I'm...I'm pretty sure I told you that at some point, but yeah."

Aldaris studied my face for a moment, and his stare lessened not one mite. I stared back...no, just looked back. I did feel bad for him, but it was right of me to tell the truth. Aldaris basically had said as much before. Only now, Aldaris had the opportunity to make good on his threats. He very well could kill me. It's just that...well, I didn't feel I'd done wrong. Both in hiding Aldaris, and telling the truth about him too. And if I die now, well, then I die for doing right. I was at perfect peace about it, and didn't feel the need to look away from the alien's blood red gaze.

Aldaris stood back to his full height again, his gaze relaxing just a bit.

"I do not intend to kill you," he said simply. "To do so at this point would only make my presence obvious."

I'm not sure if Aldaris didn't decide that just now, but living is nice. I almost made a joke about how I wouldn't mind dying in space, but it wasn't the time. Instead I settled in and folded my hands. Judging from the tone in the air, Aldaris was expecting something to happen. He wasn't saying anything, though, so I just kept quiet, not knowing what else to do.

Then, all of a sudden, I was leaning against the back of the chair, and my face half buried against the upper side of the backing. My neck was sore, too. How long had I been sitting there? I sort of remembered seeing North America out the window before. If some other continent or an ocean faced the ship instead, then clearly time had passed. If I could only look...

"Do not attempt to rise."

Man, that guy has a voice that's hard to disobey. I rested down in my seat again with my hands on my lap. After a bit, a waterbottle suddenly appeared above my head. Oh, Aldaris was handing it to me over the chair. Wait, he's behind me? When did that happen?

"Thank you." I took the bottle. I sure hope he didn't steal that from anyone, either.

"Yes, I have. From John."

"Oh, okay."

Aldaris walked past the chair, toward the window while I drank some of the water. Huh, since when was I so thirsty? I could kind of feel a headache coming on.

"It is good to know," Aldaris said. "That you have not lied to me about the questioning."

I froze. Oh crap, dude did something to my brain. With a sigh, I replaced the bottle's cap and sat it beside me. Somehow I felt too do anything coordinated.

"I did nothing you need fear. It is necessary for one in my position to have all information available. Most interesting is the truth of your assumption concerning me, that they did not believe in my presense because of Starcraft."

I almost said that that was just my perception of the given events, but interrupting was rude, and I had no energy. Man, I really hope coffee fixes whatever he did to my brain.

"It is most fortunate you did not speak in detail of my vessel." Aldaris wandered over to the window. "Under such circumstances, I would indeed end your life, and the lives of those you with which you have spoken."

If this kept up, I might faint. Why didn't I think about this before? I slumped back into my chair.

"Charlie..." I said. "Forgive me if I sound rude, but why are you still here? You had to have known I would have told my government about you after you left. You need to go back before they find you. I mean, dude, they can track the teleports. It's only a matter of time."

Aldaris got mad, and his reflection in the window showed it. I winced. What did I do besides state the obvious?

"I'm sorry," I stammered. "But it's uh, just logical..."

"I _know_ what is logical." He turned back to me. "And my most logical action would have been to slay all four of you before you had the chance to speak a word."

I sat there slackjawed.

"You needn't succumb to needless emotions," he added, recovering his usual sense of dignity. "It was then the most reasonable option. Presently it is not, and it is too late for reconsideration."

For a minute, I just sat there, not sure how to respond. Aldaris again turned away to the window.

"Charlie," I said. "Did you see in my mind the part about Cheonha?"

"Yes. It is a pity. I regret my part in it, for she was undeserving."

"'S not your fault, not really. Anyone can make a mistake in dealing with North Korea. You can't be blamed because they're messed up."

"You said this before."

"Doesn't make it any less true."

Aldaris didn't answer me. He was getting all weird and nostalgic, for some reason. So it was more to himself when he started speaking again. "What have I done heretofore that this is my condignment? Would the gods have me here? Is it my portion to be torn from my own kind and suffer exile in a world I do not understand, nor wish to?"

These words were a rebuke, I think. But I wasn't really listening to the end part. I got caught up at the 'gods' thing.

"Gods?" I said. "You really think that's the case? I mean, it would be interesting if your gods were responsible, but uh, it's far more likely that my God did something about that. Wouldn't that make more sense?"

Aldaris whirled around, his face pale with horror. "You mean to say this God of the humans has drawn me here for his own purposes?"

"I'm saying the possibility exists. He didn't actually tell me anything to that nature."

This must have stumped Charlie, because for the first time since he got there he seemed utterly at a loss. But dang if I knew why. He just facepalmed and went back to that stupid window again. Like he didn't want me to see his face, or something.

/

"Hey look, isn't it high time you got back to the K Sector? I mean, if you do have a way back, then you need to take it. All you're doing by staying here is leaving more evidence you were here. Oh hey I had this idea. Since we don't know how you got here, we also don't know that it won't happen to someone else. You said that your ship can read human cds, so if you put the like, all the technical gobbledy-gook on a disc, I could give it to another Protoss..."

I blinked. I was saying words, but it was pretty clear he wasn't really listening. Was he...in pain?

"I am fine," Aldaris said, in the sort of tone that fools nobody. "Your plan is needless because I can...report when I return the necessary information..."

That didn't sound like a guy who knew what he was doing. And then it hit me. It was so obvious, at least to someone near him.

"You...you're not telling the truth. You're not going back to the K Sector."

"You do not know what it is you speak."

"Don't I? The sky is blue, water is wet, and you're lying. Whatever happened to 'I do not decieve even humans'?"

Aldaris didn't answer. Hold up. If he wasn't going to the K Sector, then where was he going? Wait a minute...there's only one answer to that...

"You're going to kill yourself, aren't you?"

"That is none of your concern." he replied with complete self-assurance. "I know what is required of me, and it is my own cowardice in delaying that has both compromised Protoss security and ended Cheonha's life-"

Without thinking about it or waiting for him to finish, I ran over to him and snatched a nice grip on his pretty embroidered sleeve.

"Remove your hand at once!" he snapped, trying to pull his arm away without stretching the fabric.

"No!" I yelled back. "What, I'm just supposed to say and do nothing, and just let you die? Absolutely not!"

"And by what logic do you say this?" he demanded. "You know very well I must protect my kind and our secrets. Shall I then risk everything simply to spare my own life? Speak then, if you have so solid a line of reasoning!"

I gritted my teeth. Charlie knew good and well that I didn't have reason on my side. I tried to think of something, but Aldaris had a point. There are plenty of people on Earth who would want Aldaris' tech, and, from a survival standpoint, it may even be right for people to feel that way. Protoss have blown up planets after all.

"Because you're a person!" I blurted the first thing that came to mind. "And a person's life shouldn't just be thrown away like this! We've already lost two people, and now you're gonna die too?!"

We stared each other down only a couple seconds. The wooziness in my head only increased, and had been since I got to my feet; apparently he hadn't told me to stay sitting for no reason. My mind started to cloud over, like it was bubbling up with carbonated foam. My hand let go of Aldaris' sleeve on its own, and I struggled not to fall. Aldaris gently took my arm and held me up.

"You are a good child," he said softly, his voice foggy in my mind. "But a child you remain. Do not argue fruitlessly against what must be done. You are overly excited. Sit now, and sit quietly, that your obnebulation may subside."

Aldaris directed me back to the chair and I sat down. I think he might have patted me on the head, but I can't quite remember.

"Bethany, keep silent for 100 days, even to Toby and John. Say what you must after this, but until then, wait. Out of respect, for no longer can I carry out the threats I intended against you, I ask that you obstain from describing what you have seen of my ship, even beyond those days."

Whatever "obnebulation" means, apparently it includes me not being able to answer. My mind felt whited out, where I couldn't think or see anything. At times the clouds let up, and the observatory reappeared. I didn't move. Sometimes I just saw the room. Other times I saw Aldaris standing in various places, or checking on me. At no point did I feel ready to move. My mind was scattered and my limbs too heavy. So I just watched as the world blinked in and out of existence.

Eventually the pattern stopped, and I woke one last time in my own bed. I stared up at the ceiling for a while. My body's senses returned, and I noticed I was holding something. Moving my arm into view I looked. It was Desiree, my Tokidoki doll. I let my hand drop to my chest.

"Oh God," I prayed with tears in my eyes. "Please save him!"

-t-

Toby felt sick. He felt like he was either going to spray paint the walls the color of his lunch or faint dead away. It wasn't a virus. It was the appointed time. In South Korea, the time was early evening, when Toby was supposed to play Starcraft 2 with Cheonha. And she wasn't there. Tony lay downwards on his bed, forcing a cuddle out of the coverlet (and reminding him that he hadn't done laundry in a while).

"This sucks." Toby rolled over onto his back. "Aldaris, any chance you could beam me up? I...I really don't want to be alone right now."

It was too silly. In fact, Toby hadn't been teleported onto Aldaris' ship for a while, and whatever Aldaris had done to fix the recall unit apparently worked. There were no adventures. There was only the death of a friend he didn't have the chance to really know. Then a long interrogation by the police, one which drained any spare energy that he'd had. Apparently Bethany had blabbed; she'd been caught, and whatever testimony she'd given had given the fuzz plenty of ammunition. Whenever Toby tried to hide something from them, they knew exactly what to ask to reveal it. Tony had no hope of holding anything back.

Bethany'd always said that Aldaris wasn't as dangerous as he pretended to be. Toby wasn't so sure about that. Bethany was always terminally naive when it came to the local alien.

"Then again, he was always nice to Cheonha...I just don't know."

It was hard to know. He felt so alone, and there was no one to talk to. Aldaris was far away, and always seemed to like talking to Bethany best. John had his girlfriend, and she was some comfort whether or not John bothered to tell her anything. Toby didn't have anyone at all. Even his Chinese friend Fu Hao wasn't online. There was simply no one to talk to, no one who would really understand what was going on.

"I have to do something about this." Toby sat up in the bed, pausing a couple minutes for the acidic pain in his stomach to subside. "Ugh, pork skins and depression do not work well together."

Toby changed into some clean clothes, hoping that his place didn't have hidden cameras in it. Sure, it was probably bugged somehow, but if he was lucky, it would only record sound, not visuals. On the other hand, Toby was pretty proud of his body, so he did a bit of a striptease towards his wall clock just in case. He grinned as he pulled his Pikachu tee out of his dresser and over his shoulders.

Jeans, jacket, socks, shoes. Toby picked his keys up from a coffee table in the living room.

"I probably should go get that thing for Aldaris, now!" Toby said, too loudly. "He'll want it soon!"

With that, Toby left the flat and cruised down the elevator with his earbuds in his ears and his iPod blasting. He'd just put on it some downloads of Sonic the Hedgehog remixes, and he wanted to give them a listen. The convenience store on the corner was probably still open, so he figured he'd head that direction. He did, and the foggy London streets gave him a cold welcome. Toby pulled his jacket tighter, not looking at the grey sky, but knowing all the same that it would rain soon. He didn't care. This trip wouldn't take long.

Toby, ever steeped in technology, pulled a cell phone out of his other jacket pocket. He held it over his shoulder, sending an innocuous text to his mother. The reflection on the screen revealed a familiar shaggy blond. Not terribly familiar, but Toby had seen his face often enough to know he wasn't simply reading the London Post as he walked down the street. All of a sudden, Toby turned around and tapped the paper.

"Hello, how are you?" Toby asked in his most cheerful voice.

"I'm sorry...?" the man stuttered, trying to straighten his paper. "Do I know you?"

"Yes, you do, I'm certain of it. You must know something after having followed me for the past two weeks. M15, I presume?"

The man wavered, and his jaw did too as he tried, and failed, to think of an excuse.

"Thank you, dear sir," the stranger retorted. "You're really hurting my chances for a promotion."

"Don't be too put out. I've been really paranoid about this kind of thing, especially of late." Toby smiled, faintly. "I've been going on lots of walks, and the weather's been abyssmal. You've probably been half freezing to death trying to keep up with me. Would you like some tea?"

The blond frowned momentarily, but after seeing Toby's sincerity, broke into a crooked grin. "Well, alright then. I suppose it's easier to follow you if I don't have to hide. I'm Carl, by the way."

"Toby Collins, nice to meet you."

"I already knew that part, mate. So aliens, then, eh?"

"No, just the one," Toby chuckled. "Come to my flat, and I'll tell you all about it."

-t-

John sat quietly on his bed. He really wanted a drink, but there wasn't anything in the house besides half an old bottle of bad whiskey – Tonya's selection, not his. He actually knew something about whiskey, but he tried not to rub it in her face. On most days. For the past eight months it had sat at the back of the fridge, undrunk and ready for any time Statkus was desperate enough to try it.

John poured a shot into his glass and stuck the bottle on his side table. The smell, unfortunately, had permeated the room, and John stared at the glass and debated internally. He was about to side with his offended nose, but bypassed logic and poured the drink down his gullet.

 _Hrnk…ugh, should have brought some food in here to get the taste out of my mouth…_ Statkus gagged, but managed to keep the drink from flooding his nose. _Ants be damned, that is horrendous._

But alcohol was alcohol and it worked. Statkus felt himself carried away, far away from his problems. No more aliens, murders, or interrogations. Strange, as much as he'd wanted to blurt everything about Aldaris from the first, he didn't feel up to it in the actual interrogation. Someone right up front had told him about Cheonha, and well, Statkus didn't want to remember the screaming. He was so sure it was a trick, a way of manipulating him into whatever they wanted.

Statkus drank another shot of the bitter whiskey. Even if it was just a psychosomatic trick, Statkus always found that being drunk interfered with his sense of smell. That took care of the cheap drink quite nicely. Statkus sank atop his bed, too lazy to get up and snuggle himself under the cover. The alcohol in his blood was warm enough, if he ignored the science that stated the contrary. The haze, though not debilitating, took over his mind and comforted him. He fully embraced the buzz.

"John Statkus, where the _hell_ have you been?!"

And Statkus regretted giving Tonya a key to his apartment. His weary hand reached out for the bottle again, but he was too slow. Tanya shoved open the bedroom door and sat herself between man and drink, unsympathetic to the man only halfway out of consciousness. Apparently he was aware enough to satisfy Tanya's need to express herself. She took a deep breath, and Statkus wished for a deep death. Or at least to just pass out for a day or so.

"John, you've been acting weird for the past month. Do you have any idea how I feel to have a boyfriend who's away all the time. Newsflash, buddy, our anniversary was last week. Where exactly were you?"

Statkus thought about it a minute. Last week was his anniversary? Crap, it was. He knew where he had been, too. He'd been in Seoul, playing Starcraft II with Cheohna. Yeah, _that_ excuse would fly. Wait, she was still on her business trip then. So what had he been doing last week? Which day was his anniversary again?

Statkus put a pillow over his face. "No questions, please."

"No questions?" Tanya threw the pillow away. "John, something is wrong with you. You've been acting weird, and I want to know why. I'd accuse you of cheating on me, but I know you're too lazy. Talk to me."

"Tanya...I can't do it...please, just leave me alone for a while."

Her mouth flatlined. "John, did you know that someone came to me after work and asked a bunch of questions about you?"

"Wait, what?"

"Yes. It was this guy with a badge, and probably a gun. Did you get mixed up in something? Were you working on a criminal's computer?"

Her tone was the worst, and Statkus thought if he had to hear it for much longer, he would lose his tempter and do something he would regret. So he sat up, sighed, and gestured Tanya over. She didn't quite get it at first, so Statkus pulled her in close. Tanya, finally sensing his tension, relaxed into his side.

"Tanya, please understand," Statkus started. "I didn't want to tell you anything, and I still don't."

"Is...is it bad?"

"Yeah, it's bad. One of my friends was murdered."

"Wait, _what_? You're serious?"

"Unfortunately. Technically we don't know if it was murder or not, because the investigation isn't over. But we're still pretty sure."

"Who was killed?"

"You never met her." Statkus tried to control his voice without sounding like it. "She was someone I knew from other friends."

"'Her'?" Tanya raised an eyebrow. "'She'?"

"Yeah, she was a girl. Don't give me that look. I didn't see her in that way." Statkus lowered his gaze and reached for his girlfriend's hands. "She was like a little kid to me. No, more like a puppy. Imagine if you rescued this puppy from the street, and it was all dirty and disgusting. Then you take it home, give it a bath, make sure it gets all its shots, and give it good food. And then, just as soon as it starts it like you, some idiot neighbor shoots it. That's what all of this has been like for me."

Statkus couldn't see her face, but judging from her tone, she must have been frowning. "Wait, you rescued this girl?"

"No. That was some other people I know." Statkus pulled his girlfriend away from his side and turned to look in her eyes. "Tanya, I love you, and right now there's something about you I love most of all. You don't know anything about this. Right now all I want is to be with someone who isn't a part of all that. Someone who I can be around and forget everything."

Tanya was so cute when she did her doe eyes. "You...really mean that? The part where you said you love me?"

"I do." Statkus hugged her again, more tightly than he had in the past month. "And right now I want nothing more than to hold my girlfriend and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist."

"But," Tanya said through his shoulder. "Is everything alright? You're not in danger, are you?"

Statkus didn't chuckle. As much as he liked those North Korean memes on the internet, he really didn't know for sure how dangerous that country could be. Not that there was much likelihood of them finding out who he was, since Aldaris was leaving.

"No it'll be fine. I'd be very surprised if the murderer knew about me. She was...really more of an internet friend."

"...Weird guys aren't going to keep questioning me, are they?"

"No, I don't think so. They didn't ask you something weird about aliens, did they?"

Tanya lifted her head from Statkus' shoulder. "Uh, no, why?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." Statkus pulled her back in again. "Hey, Babe? Let's...let's get married."

Statkus couldn't keep her contained, and she pulled out of his arms with a startled expression. "What did you just say?"

"I said I want to marry you," he insisted. "And I mean it. Life is really precious, and we only have so much of it. I like you a lot – I mean, I love you a lot, and I know everything about you. Just like you know everything about me. Why bother looking for other people? We should enjoy ourselves and be as happy as possible for as many years as we can. Let's get married, go on a trip, eat lots of weird food, do whatever we want. I'll buy your mom those stupid touristy things she likes, too. What do you say?"

Statkus hadn't ever considered her answer to this question, mainly because he'd barely considered asking it. But now that he saw Tanya's face, her look flung him into doubt. Would she, would she really say no? The firm wrinkle of her brow seemed to say so.

"John, I'm going to pretend you didn't ask that," she said. "What you're going to do is hold that thought, go out and buy me a nice ring, throw a big party with everyone we love - and yes we love my parents - and you're going to propose to me in front of all of them. I'll do my best to forget what you said here, and it'll be a big surprise for me. Got that?"

"Got it."

Tanya then snuggled back into her man's arms, lying against him in the exact way that he wanted. She relaxed, and so did he, once he had his arms in a nice, secure position around her.

"You're...you're going to say yes, aren't you?"

"Of course I am," she whispered.

Statkus kissed the top of her head. It smelled like jasmine flowers.

-t-

Eunha was mad at everything. This was supposed to be just a simple case. Most of the time, working with North Koreans was simple. Watching them wasn't even considered necessary most of the time, and even when it was, the subject proved to be boringly compliant, willing and at least somewhat able to adapt to the new world around them, depending on their personal circumstances. Cheonha messed all that up by not being normal, with refusing to answer questions about how she came south. Frankly, Eunha was surprised her government had even allowed Cheonha to stay without knowing the certain answers to those questions. But that's where she came in. She was supposed to befriend Cheonha and get her to talk. And Cheonha hadn't talked, not much. Only the "friend" part of the plan had actually worked.

And now Eunha had nothing to show for her work but the remaining unanswered questions and a pain in her heart to leave her sick for weeks. Not to mention an entire apartment being torn apart by crime scene investigators for any evidence of the killer. Eunha cooperated fully, of course, but that meant having no possessions for a week. She also felt bad for the poor landlords. Many people were moving out because of the murder. Eunha couldn't help it, but no one wanted to live in a place with a murder investigation going on.

But she did have a chance to pack up some of her stuff before she left. One suitcase full. But the hotel room the government had arranged for the week had its own furniture, so Eunha wouldn't have to stare at an empty apartment until the week was over. Now she could only sit on the bed, stare out of the window and wait for the night to end so that she could make her psychiatrist's appointment. That too was government arranged.

The Seoul skyscape was all too familiar. Eunha shifted her gaze slightly to the left. Pappa, Cheonha's hamster, ran frantically around the cage. He went to one corner and dug for a couple of seconds, then ran to another and dug, then sniffed about his water bottle. He finally scampered up to the part of the cage closest to Eunha, standing on his hind legs and shining his beady black eyes as though to ask a question. His paws rested on the plastic barrier, and Eunha, without smiling, stood up and went for the hamster food. It was a thing Cheonha used to do. She would take the sunflower seeds from the food and hand them individually to Pappa, so that Pappa got used to her scent. Eunha plucked out a few, then opened the top of the cage. Pappa was a skittish hamster, but the trick worked. He even let Eunha pat him before he scampered off.

"Poor Pappa," Eunha whispered to him. "You miss Cheonha too, don't you?"

The hamster ate its sunflower seed in a far corner, out of reach of Eunha's reluctant will.

Eunha sat back down on the bed. She knew she should get a shower, get something to eat, and go to bed. She didn't move. \\\\\\\\\\\ She didn't want to, nor could she figure out what else to do. More than anything else, Eunha wanted to be assigned to another case, but since that too required moving, she instead went for her suitcase. It was within arm's reach.

She didn't know why she bothered. Nothing in the suitcase was unfamiliar and worth exploring. But explore she did. After all, she had packed in a rush, and it was probably a good idea to assess what she had to wear. Soon she had little piles along the end of the bed, one for each of the next five days. Out came the odd assortment of various personal items, like a favorite book or her makeup bag.

"Hm? What's this?"

It was her little vase. It wasn't valuable, and Eunha wondered why she'd bothered to pack it. Still, it was cute: a small vase of marbled blue, green, and black ceramic. She'd bought it in Namdaemun one day on a whim, because she wanted to make her house look nice. It was only a dozen or so centimeters tall, so it didn't take up much room in her suitcase.

Eunha didn't think much longer about it. She placed the vase on the side table with every intention of going back to her suitcase and finding the next thing. Only when she set it down, a little sound came from inside it. Eunha pushed aside her suitcase and dumped the contents of her vase into her hand. It was only a necklace, a blue stone on a gold chain.

"Oh, this thing." Eunha studied the gem. "Wasn't this Cheonha's?"

It was, so far as she could remember. Cheonha, those last two days, often held it in her hand. Whenever Eunha asked, Cheonha had answered that it was her mother's, and Eunha had always left it at that. Not that she could ever remember Lee Suha wearing a necklace.

Eunha held it now, watching it as it reflected the hotel room's light. She remembered how Cheonha used to hold it, scrunching it tightly in her fist. Eunha did the same. Maybe it was a slight bit of masochism, but she liked the way the stone bit into her hand.

She suddenly frowned. Something about the stone bothered her. She looked at it again. A perfectly regular gem, so far as she could tell. She encased a fist over it, and somehow she got the slightest feeling that the stone had rejected her.

"Whatever," Eunha shrugged. "I must be losing my mind if I think silly things like that. Only I wonder why Cheonha put it in this vase. She didn't need to hide it from me. I wouldn't have taken it."

Eunha put the matter out of her mind and glanced over again at the hamster. "You're a good hamster, Pappa. Run in your wheel a lot tonight, so that I don't feel alone when I try to sleep, alright?"

As if to answer in the affirmative, the critter trundled over to the wheel and went to work. Eunha smiled. It was a bit too soon, as she had to shower first and try to eat, but Pappa was still cute anyway.

"At least I know I have you, Pappa." Eunha checked the lid to make sure it was shut. "Good boy."

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

\- Sorry it's been so long. I finally got a computer, but Windows 10 is a pile of garbage, so I have to figure out how to get rid of it. I've tried a couple of different ways, but it hasn't worked. But I know another way to create a bootable drive...well, maybe you don't care about that.

What really bugs me about this story is that it got so messed up by all the changes in my life. I've had so much stuff going on this year that it's ridiculous. Everything's been changing, and I haven't had the time to make this story the way I'd originally envisioned it. Perhaps my original vision wouldn't have worked, but this hasn't been getting the attention I want it to.

But it's going to be alright. I have a plan, and I'm going to finish out this story. Maybe this story will never achieve the popularity of my Mega Man fanfiction, but I still want this to be something worth reading and having fun with, to be something personal for me and yet controversial for readers - the more controversial parts are ahead.

In any case, I'll elaborate on my plan when things go forward. I don't want to spoil anything, of course. I really hope those of you who read this enjoy it. I feel pretty much compelled to finish it, as it means a lot to me, but I hope it at least tickles the fancy of readers along the way.

\- If you're wondering about the title to this chapter, it's a reference to She's the Sun, by Scooter. It's the inspiration for a lot of Cheonha's story, though the original version of her death and its aftermath was very different.


	21. The Return

Log #349936

Despite my resolution, I have not departed from the Terran homeworld.

...

It is difficult to understand my position here. At my first arrival on Earth, my confusion had no answer. For what reason had the gods so assigned me to this damnable corner of the universe? What purpose had they in doing so? And in this abidancy I remained bewildered, waiting for an answer that I feared would not come.

But come it has, I fear. Not from my own gods, whose comfort I might have expected to assign some great task in my presense here. There is no such comfort, and my answer comes only from a foolish girl. She spoke without certainty, but the more I have dwelt on her words, the less I may deny them. She claimed it may well be that her God has brought me here. In my heart I wish that this were untrue, that my own gods with their own purposes have done it, or the wild whims of fate have me in their thrall. But only with Bethany's explanation has all fallen into place. For I know my own gods well. They would not have denied my need to remain with my own kind, and serve there to preserve our race.

This God of humans, on the other hand, need have no such motivation. Whatever he may feel of the Protoss, surely his own creation more greatly concerns him. Have I angered this God? Did I hate the humans overmuch, or were my actions mistaken for wrath against these pitiful beings? I do not deny that I find these creatures repugnant. It is a mere opinion and not held by myself alone, that I alone should suffer this fate. Never would I war with the humans without need, and I have never judged them with cruelty. No indeed, my every action toward them has been well reasoned, considerate, and graceful in regard to their multiple fallacies. Anything I have done against them was done in the defense of my species, and not from hate. I swear that this is true, for does one hate the wild animal that haunts the wilderness? By all means, no, for it is a mere beast. Humans are, to a degree, raised above beasthood, and I confess I neither understand them nor why any god would have been interested in their creation. They are nonetheless his creatures, and I suppose it is to this God's credit he does not simply abandon them.

I stated fully my lack of maliciousness and sin towards the humans, and for many silent minutes I waited. For many more minutes I, ready to dismiss the existence of this God, prepared for my dormition at the planet with the uncouth name of Venus. Yet as I made the final calculations, a thought, unbidden, rose to my mind. To this day, I could not recall why I sent for Bethany, those months ago, at the exact moment she was most in danger. She is this God's creature, and he would surely use me for her rescue, as said this thought.

But I denied it, and tried to muse on other matters. I could not. For even as I attempted to do this, I recalled - quite out of my conscious memory - a piece of a book read by the believing earthborn.

 **'What term!...Till God forgives my sins-till then I'll be serving time.'**

This was a statement made by a simple woman in a prison camp, read to me by a girl who can never have met her. But again, in what way have I sinned against these humans? Have I hated them undeservingly? Is their God merely offended for their sake? To take up offense against me is beyond reason. Have I not acted on the behalf of humans? Did I not aid Raynor and allow him to remain on Aiur? Did I not spare the four humans whom I may well have killed for secrecy's sake? What then is expected of me?

I cried out to this God of humans, "If you have any matter about which you intend to address me, then speak, and have out with it. I must have some sign, if you expect any obedience on my part."

And there was nothing. Contenting myself with the silence, I moved to my console and prepared to leave orbit. But it was that thought, that quiet interruption, and in the quietude of the _Juniadros_ I could not fail to notice it. It was not words, but it was information. It was my task simply to find Cheonha.

I did not grieve for the girl at her passing. I did not feel the need to do so. No, it was not callousness, but a strange reluctance, a doubt. I never felt that she had died. Of course, it may well be that I am so well acquaintenced with death, I fear it now in no form. In any case, the haunting information came without surprise. I obeyed it, feeling that it was without point. Cheonha was indeed killed. I do not speak korean, but I observed more than enough to understand what had occurred.

With an uncertain dread, I searched for Cheonha's mind with the ship's computer. I knew her present location, but only through hearsay. I could not pinpoint it without a living mind. But she was dead, was she not? The quiet insistence did not vanish, and I obeyed it, if only to fulfill my own curiosity.

I received a signal.

Cheonha's item was a small plastic flower she removed from her shoe. It was of the first day when I met the four, and Cheonha was with Bethany, buying clothes. Bethany had picked out the shoes for her, it seems. And when I transmitted the image of this item, this memory vividly, undeniably appeared. Cheonha is alive.

At the time she was cold and frightened, for she was in some sort of cold sleep cell - I made no attempt to see her specific location. A worker in the facility (I believe the place is in english referred to as a morgue) was available. I sent her to see to Cheonha. I took proper precautions, and did nothing more than say Cheonha's name to the worker. This person must have been familiar with her case, and knew to whom I referred. By altering certain chemicals in her mind, I silently urged her to make haste. She would not have seen my actions as anything more than an impulse, a whim of fate, perhaps.

Since that time I have sat here, alone. If it were Aiur's gods that had sent me to this place, they would have granted me a task. Because it is Earth's, and he is enigmatic, I know not what is set before me. I know only little of what I apparently must do.

Perhaps it is that every word I have recorded here is utter nonsense. Perhaps I have spoken foolishly, or from delusion. Perhaps I am simply a coward, resorting to whatever excuse I might claim in my own personal defense. Perhaps I have so given myself over to self-preservation, that I have become too weak to bear the resolve I should have had from the beginning of this sordid ordeal. I am weak, and I have failed, and I now embark upon a path I fear is the most foolish I have yet taken. If I do wrongly, may my own gods judge me, if I shall ever dwell in their presence again.

Until my sins are forgiven, whatever they may be.

-t-

I'm really tired of starting out each of these journal entries with something like, "life really sucks right now," or "things are really hard." I'm just adulting, and apparently complaining is a normal thing to do. I'm just sick of money issues, of work issues, of school issues, and of losing aliens and friends issues.

Honestly, when I got home today, all I wanted to do was watch my Project Runway DVD for the tenth time - television sets and the internet cost money, so again, money issues. So for the moment, if I'm bored, all I get is a choice between Project Runway and Mortal Kombat (1995). Project Runway has more episodes, so it looks like I get to see the blow up between Kara Saun and Wendy Pepper again.

Man, old Project Runway is so good. All the new stuff sucks.

Anyway, despite the fact I have money woes, trinkets at work are significantly cheaper than internet, especially plus employee discount. I work at a place that sells used books and geek trinkets, and somehow we ended up with a Blizzard-themed mystery box. Given that the only one of their games that I actually played was Starcraft, I only recognised the little Zeratul and Kerrigan figures on the side of the box. But I bought it anyway, risking it being one I don't want. Hey, I've got coworkers. If I don't want it, one of them probably will.

In any case, I bought that thing right up. The thought of opening it up nagged me all the rest of the workday, and I couldn't wait to get home. Finally I did, and I plopped into my green chair and opened up that bad boy. And grinned. Yay! I got a little plastic Zeratul! It's just too bad they don't let you have the old, cool-looking one. Instead we only get the Starcraft 2 new one. Lame. Oh well, it's a fun new thing anyway. It even came with a little loop attached to fake Zeratul's head. I swung it around on my finger and thought of a cute little song and sang it. Oh hush, stop judging me. Work any amount of time in childcare and you'll do it too.

"When things are sad, I won't whine, I'll

Get out my Protoss made of vinyl,

Now every day will be so cool,

Just me and my fake Zeratul!"

Before I knew it, there was the sound of overwhelming laughter in my head.

"Uh...Charlie?" I thought this rather than said it outloud, because my house is probably still bugged. But screw italics, for now.

He instantly vanished from my mind, and I grinned. Hey, at least somebody likes my singing. Oops, I hope my upstairs neighbor isn't home. Aw, who cares? I made Aldaris laugh!

"For your information," Aldaris, apparently back and definitely still amused, replied. "I am vulnerable to your juvenile humor only due to my highly stressful circumstances."

"Hey, Charlie, whatever I can do to help." I grinned some more, but then I wondered. Why was Aldaris alive? Wasn't he going to...I mean, the last time I saw him, he even said he was going to...

"Be at peace. I have every intention of continuing to live."

I jumped out of my chair, forgetting all mention of neighbors or bugs.

" _ **YEE-ESSSSSSSSS!**_ "

"...If you can restrain yourself from any such further outbursts, I have further things to discuss with you. As well as further good news."

I put my hands over my mouth and thought back at him, "I'll be good."

"We shall see. Prepare yourself for recall."

One of these days, I'm going to ask him what he means with all that "prepare yourself" crap. But it is not this day, because the instant I teleported back to Aldaris' lounge, I had a "further outburst."

"Cheonha- _shee_!"

\\\\\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

\- So I brought a character back from the dead. Sue me. Or don't, because it's not like I have much in the way of money.

\- I'm sorry it's been forever since update. Again. Real life has been on me. I started a second job, and I'm going to be starting school in the spring. So...yeah. Man, I had such grandiose plans for this story. I still do, really. Thing is, I'd like to do some things to get published, too.

So, here's how it's going to be. Before the end of the year, I'm going to put up one more update, which will end this segment of the story. After that, I'll work on the next segment over the next year. I won't post it until I have a significant buffer, so that there won't be any long "real world" delays. However, I can't promise that that part of the story will come any time soon. Honestly, I kinda like it that way. With Starcraft 2 being wrapped up, excitement for this section has gone down. I want to wait a bit, and perhaps another peak for Starcraft will come. Granted, I'm not going to specifically wait for that.

It's just...

It's like Mega Man, actually. One of the reasons why fanfic writers in that section like to write Mega Man stories is because Capcom never specified what happened between the Classic and X series. People could make that nice, beautiful gap whatever they wanted. Honestly, that's why I managed a five-part story in it. I feel like Starcraft 2 rounded things out too well, ended too many mysteries (among other things). For stories, and in particular stories in games, there should always be gaps of information, places where the audience can speculate or create their own answers to questions. Void is one of the most important things in storytelling, and not the Dark Templar kind, either.

Well, I do have void, and that's the question, "what will happen when Aldaris becomes known on Earth?" Hopefully the answer to that question will be interesting. More interesting than this particular story, as I don't feel this segment lived up to the potential I'd planned for it. But besides real life, that was due to me being really excited by what I could do in later stories. I even have notes for those parts. Here's hoping to having notes for the next story, to actually get something up.

\- Aldaris has what humans in the western world would call an old-fashioned view of the gods. He sees gods as local, like, each one happens to be attached to a specific area of a world, though there are a few nature gods on Aiur that are gods of trees, gods of rain, etc. He copes easily with the idea that Earth has its own gods in their own localities (and is ready to dislike every one). And is quietly offended that I believe in the omnipresence of my God, but we haven't really had a deep discussion on that yet.


	22. Deep Breath

You know what really sucks? Trying to research laws on extraterrestrials. I mean, I should have been expecting that, as there haven't been any aliens on Earth before, but still. I'm just so lost on how to get the whole ball rolling on helping Aldaris get ready for his stay on Earth. Thankfully I have the whole day off today, so there's nothing to do but hang out here in the school library and bum their internet.

"Y'know, I think this is probably the worst possible group for figuring a thing like this out," I chuckled as I typed into the computer. "None of us three are in professions that have anything to do with politics, and Cheonha's got her own drama happening."

 **Toby: do we even know what's going on over there?**

 **Bethany:** **No, but I'll get Charlie to look her up, later on.**

I stopped. We're being watched by federal agents. Why in the world am I typing in facebook when I know that they'll see it? I backspaced through most of the words.

 **Bethany: No. I don't know what to do about that.**

 **Toby: should we ask the feds to tell us?**

 **Bethany: Would they?**

 **Toby: i dunno. maybe.**

 **Bethany: Oh, I meant to ask you. What happened to Statkus?**

 **Toby: i don't know. he never mentioned anything to me.**

Huh, maybe John's given up on us. Got sick of the whole alien thing. Kinda wish he'd have warned us, but alright. As I looked again at my second tab open, I grinned. This was silly. Snopes is a fun website sometimes. But it turns out that we are all criminals.

 **Bethany: Hey guys, um, we're in trouble.**

 **Toby: wut?**

 **Bethany: We broke the law.**

 **There's a law to where people who are exposed to alien microorganisms need to be quaranteened.**

 **Toby: ...omg. we have space cancer.**

 **Bethany: lol. Space cancer. I'd prefer space flu. Help me lose weight.**

 **Pffft. I found this website called exopolitics, and it's hilarious.**

 **Toby: useful?**

 **Bethany: Not a bit. It's some fanciful site.**

 **Hold up, Charlie wants me for something.**

 **Toby: ?**

 **tell him i want to come.**

 **Bethany: he says he just wants to bother with one of us at a time.**

 **brb, see ya.**

 **Toby: :(**

 **he needs to stop playing favorites.**

 **...bethany?**

 **please come back.**

 **i don't want to have space cancer by myself.**

Yay, back on the ship. Huh, in the control room this time. I went automatically to the seats in the back, where I'm far away from everything Aldaris doesn't want me touching.

"Hey, _Sansaengneem_." I waved at Aldaris as I sat down. "You got me at a good time. I was just thinking about how to help you out."

"Yes, I am aware." Aldaris turned away from the computer screen, and towards me. "Much as I am loathe to rely on such advice, it would seem I have no choice. Is your government capable of tracking your internet research?"

"Yes, they are," I answered, pulling out my new orange and grey backpack. As much as I loved my old pink one, it was getting shabby, and I can't be shabby in front of the 'Toss. "But I can't see how that would hurt. If I'm looking up stuff like the United Nations, they can at least guess you don't have antagonistic intentions. You sure you don't want Toby up here too?"

"That is unnecessary. One of you is quite enough." Aldaris' eyes glowed orange at me, and I haven't figured out what that means yet. "Indeed, I would have selected John instead of you, only he has run off with a young woman into marriage."

"Whaaaat?" I gaped. "That doesn't seem like him at all."

"It is none of our concern at this time."

"Alright then. Hey, did you want us to say anything to the agents tailing us?"

"No. If I must reckon with Terran authorities, it will not be through menial staff associated with clandestine operations. Say nothing to them."

"Oh, mm'kay, just let us know if something changes. First things first, then. There's this thing called the United Nations, and they're this organization that most of the nations of the world have joined up with. Being involved means honoring certain legal agreements, and while the UN doesn't have much in the way of real authority, you're going to have to show up there at some point."

"It was my understanding that Earth is in disunity, with one culture divided from another. Am I obligated to reveal my presense here to all nations? That is, could the United States government be convinced to remain silent?"

"Now that you mention it, the possibility does exist. Most nations nowadays will follow their own interests, rather than arbitrarily do what the UN says. However, given that present circumstances are what they are, you're pretty much going to have to tell Britain, the US, and South Korea. Basically obligated there. Fortunately for you, all three nations get along pretty well, so if you really wanted to convince them of anything, they'd all more or less be thinking along the same lines. I can't guarantee they'd be willing to go along with your idea, but yeah probably, it could happen."

"Very good."

I flipped the page in my notebook. "Okay, so the next thing is, you really need to be thinking about how you're going to answer some questions. There are some things they're going to unavoidably ask you about, so be ready."

"'They'?"

"Government, reporters, people in general," I answered. "They're going to ask you how accurate your character is in Starcraft, how you really feel about humans, and general questions about how the K Sector really is. Also, they definitely will ask you in detail about how you got to Earth. That does concern us, especially if it's a means which the Zerg could potentially use."

"That outcome is unlikely," Aldaris said. "The Zerg were uninvolved in my arrival here."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean they can't somehow abuse it. Unless..." I blinked. "Oh, you got here by means of Protoss technology, right?"

Aldaris answered only with a few fine degrees of narrowed brow. I nodded.

"Okay then, your tech it is. Better figure out a way to answer that question while at the same time dampening people's curiosity. Also, how sure are you that some natural phenomenon wasn't involved?"

"Entirely uncertain. For I do not know how my deliverance here was managed."

I dropped the notebook. "I know you don't want to talk about this stuff, and you can be as stubborn as you like. But people out there are going to ask way tougher questions than I will. And they're entitled to answers about things if there's a potential time warp or something near the planet. Wait, let me think, uh, to the best of your knowledge, is there something outside Earth right now that you can detect is similar to whatever your ship picked up when you were brought here?"

"No. There is no 'warp' or 'portal', or whatever term you might apply."

"Okay, cool. Sheesh. Lay off the temper already." I returned to my notebook and glanced at the page. "Heh, maybe this isn't the way to get you to calm down, but I'm going to need to know the truth here, because you are def gonna get asked this: do you hate humans?"

Aldaris satred at me, still as a sculpture, a look of absolute hatred on his face. Yeah, that answers my question pretty well.

"Look, dude, I really don't give a flying rat crap how you feel about humans. I'm not gonna get mad no matter what you say."

No answer, just staring. So I stared back. It diden't work, though. You'd never guess from playing the game, but dude is actually kind of patient. Or at least more patient than me.

"Fine, whatever, but if you don't come up with any way to answer that question, it's gonna be bad."

"I have an answer. And that is that I am withholding judgement on humans until I make further observation."

"Oh? And how close is that to the truth?"

"Close," he replied. "Indeed it is truth in its entiretly, except for certain individuals I am presently acquaintenced with."

"Love ya too, _sansaengneem_ ," I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, I'm not certain how much I believe you, but it is definitely true that I don't care, so let's move on. How willing are you to talk about Starcraft? I mean, the real events, not the game?"

"I shall tell them anything they like on what I know of the humans, but I have every intention of protecting Protoss interests. Nor do I fell that you are entitled to know anything at all about Protoss culture."

"Kay. But honestly you really should consider telling us some."

"And why is that?"

"Because, well, it's like I said with telling the other countries about you. If you really want to keep your presense here as much of a secret as possible, it is going to be a matter of give and take."

"Meaning, I may expect to pay by one means or another for orbiting this rock."

"Yup. But, the good news is that if the general public knows about you, then your existence itself s like 'pay', so to speak. Aliens are cool these days, and simply hearing about your culture is good enough for normal folk like me. For most people, really. It's simply fascinating that a person from a far-flung culture is here, and anything you'd have to say is immediately fascinating, simply because it bears no relation to the way we think."

"That is hardly likely," Aldaris shook his head. "Humans are not truly interested in such matters."

"Says the guy who isn't a human, nor spent any great length of time around us. We're way more curious than you would think. Well, then again, you do only know the Koprullu Sector humans. They might be different, either for their own reasons, or because how they found out about the Protoss was not the best way for humans to discover extraterrestrials exist. But in either case, people will be less on your case about technology if they can get a better understanding of Protoss culture. That is, if they sympathize with Protoss, they'll be more likely to respect your right to protect your people by not saying stuff you shouldn't."

"I still cannot believe that any word you say is accurate."

"Don't believe if you like, but I know for a fact that people...well, at least people in places like the US and Britain, are definitely pretty chill. I'm kinda concerned about Russia and China, but eh, just be firm and self-confident and they should leave you alone."

"It was not my intention to allow either of those nations to learn of me."

"Oh, oops," I facepalmed. "I forgot I was trying to make a point. All that culture stuff works on the basis that you become known to the general public. If you don't, then the US government is going to need some sort of motivation for keeping you under wraps. I understand the tech side, but how comfortable would you be if they asked you...I don't know, to go map stars or the moon or Mars or something?"

"Entirely uncomfortable. I have no intention of promoting any human endeavor. Because we cannot determine how the life I have known relates to this version of Earth, I wish to affect as little as possible."

"Okay then, in my opinion you're better off letting the general public know, but you should talk to our governments before you ultimately decide on that. Besides, what you need to do is take advantage of the popularity of Starcraft. Um, what I was thinking you could do is publish a book or something about the Starcraft characters you're familiar with: Tassadar, Raynor, all them."

"Why would I wish to do such a thing?"

"Well, why not? Besides the culture thing, you're gonna need money at some point. Clothes, somewhere to live - I'm pretty sure you don't want to stay up here all the time - and any innumerable things you might need that we aren't thinking about right now. Oh, and you should think about what country you'd like to stay in. The US is nice and big, has a lot of empty space if you were looking for somewhere quiet."

"This is absurd." Aldaris stood up from his chair and went to the window. "I do not wish to one at a time have all my problems presented before me. I wish to know my most pressing tasks, and to deal with each accordingly."

I shook my head. "The problem with that is that your most pressing task is to deal with the world's governments and let them figure out what to do. Of course, beforehand you should know what it is you want exactly. How do you want to live down there, and how secret do you want to be? Everything else hinges on those. Also, I suggest you ask for more than you want, that way if you ever get talked down, you're still about where you want to be."

"I am familiar with the basics of negotiation, small one."

"Sorry, _Sansaengneem_." I blushed and stared at the floor. "I overtalk sometimes."

Aldaris glanced at me. "That is the third time you have referred to me in that manner. What is the meaning of ' _sansaengneem_ '?"

"Oh, that. It's korean. Literally it means teacher, but it's most often used to refer to anyone who is entitled to respect, for whatever reason. Apparently it used to mean 'eldest brother', a long time ago." I chuckled. "Um, I'm trying to get into the habit of saying that, because it's probably not a good idea to call you 'Charlie' in public."

Aldaris paused a minute, and I think he was looking into my mind to see if I was lying. I wasn't, and after a bit, he just nodded.

"Very well." He paused once more, staring out at Earth in the window. "Bethany, if I spoke to this 'Blizzard' company, how much would they speak to me of the creation of Starcraft?"

"Oh, they'd tell you everything," I answered. "But they'd have to find the old employees, too. Video game programming is a field with high turnover, so there's probably a lot of people they'd have to call back to answer all your questions. But they'd do it. Just warn them ahead of time and they can bring everybody back to Blizzard HQ."

"They would do such a thing for me?"

"Sure, why not?"

Aldaris faced me again. "Because I am an extraterrestial of whom they know next to nothing."

"Yeah, but you're also a character from their game. They're gonna think that's the coolest thing ever. Chris Metzen is probably going to lose his mind over you. I mean, imagine meeting the person you wrote about!"

"Hmm."

Aldaris got deep in thought at that point, so I didn't want to bother him. Then again, I had to. There was no avoiding this. If I didn't tell him now, well, telling him later would be bad. I'm supposed to be acting in his best interest, after all. I looked up and noticed him staring at me expectantly.

"Um, Charlie - crap, I messed up. _Sansaengneem_ ," I said, nervously. "When you go down to Earth, and if everyone knows about you...I really recommend that you not associate with me."

"Why is this? You would be would be a stealthy malefactor indeed if any false activity of yours had escaped both my notice and the notice of those who now watch you."

"That's not...well, okay, surely you've noticed by now that I'm a horribly goofy person with the tendency to say really awkward, unnecessary things." I sighed. "And if I continue to hang out with you in public, then eventually I am going to say something dumb to a reporter, which will get all blown out of proportion and cause you problems. Besides, you don't even like me, anyway. Humans aren't much like Protoss, but there's got to be someone out there with a personality more tolerable than mine."

Aldaris didn't answer for a while. His face was inscrutable, but then, after several seconds, he seemed to smile. It made me nervous. I'm not sure I like it when Charlie smiles.

"I see," he said. "As eager as I am to be rid of your company, the only real solution is to depart from Earth and be rid of the company of all humans. As this option is denied me, so too do I deny you the coward's way out. If I must suffer this fate, so shall you."

"Dude, you know I'm doing this for your benefit, right? I'm a weird kid, and you don't need to bother about me. Don't deny it and pretend I'm a normal example of my species or any of that."

"I did not intend to, but neither can I speak for humanity." Friggin' Aldaris was way too amused by this. "But in your case, you speak not for my benefit, but for your own, as you fear the constant attention and nuisance of fame. You would have it so you are quickly forgotten, that you might retain your privacy. Your cowardice is unbecoming, small one."

I paled. "...Please?"

"No," he replied, firmly. "Oh, and while we speak of unpleasant topics, I must know the nature of Starcraft 2 when I speak with Blizzard. In this too I do not wish to suffer alone, so we five, or four if Cheonha cannot be reached, will watch this game together."

"But...Starcraft 2... Legacy of the Void, you're not going to like it," I groaned. "...This is because you hate me, isn't it?"

Aldaris smirked. "Bear your sufferings with grace, and they shall not conquer you. And prepare yourself for celebrity. You cannot so easily escape the doom that awaits you, for even during this brief conversation my mind has been at work, and I now see that perhaps the best course of action may yet be to accept your past suggestion."

"My past...suggestion?" Suddenly I remembered, and I grinned. "You don't mean...?"

"Yes, unfortunately. We both must suffer indeed, and first impressions often prove the most important. You four have taught me... _much_ about humans of Earth. It would seem an...alternate approach is required."

And then suddenly this whole fame thing didn't seem so bad. At least, it was going to start auspiciously. Oh poor Charlie. I know exactly what he means, and this isn't exactly befitting his dignity. It's also horribly hilarious, and I intend to see it through.

\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

\- And just what that is, you'll have to wait for part 3. Or you could just reread the first part of this story and figure it out. Whichever amuses you more.

\- Bah, sorry, I meant to post this in 2016, but life happens. And so does slacking. But the truth of the matter is, I can't do like I did last year, and just post whatever every rare occasion. I'm going to create a massive buffer for part 3, and that means a long hiatus. Which will be better for this story in the long run. I cannot tell you how many times I've had to scrap inspiration, or even a chapter, because of changes in my life.

The next part isn't going to be like that. It's going to be more of a constructed story, and less of a journal. Because I am not actually a famous alien-companion. Nature of the beast. That also means that my life will be able to trip this up less, and I can create something people will want to read, that makes sense, and has real flow.

These first two parts, however, have set a lot of ideas up, so I hope they were worth reading. I've always been a little more Azumanga about this fiction, in the sense of more character development than plot. Hopefully the next part will see the inclusion of better things, and better moments. I'll play SC1 again to get a better sense of Aldaris' personality, and bring Toby and Statkus more into things.

Look forward to it!


End file.
